Challenge 18: Names

150. Names have a mysterious reality of their own. We may well feel an unexpected kinship with someone who shares our name, or may feel uneasy at the thought that our name is not as much our own as we imagined. Most of us do not choose our names; they come to us unbidden, sometimes with ungainly sounds and spellings, complicated family histories, allusions to people we never knew. Sometimes we have to make our peace with them, sometimes we bask in our names' associations. Ruminate on names and naming, your name, and your name's relationship to you. (University of Chicago)

“Hey you, please get me a fork.” If I had said that to a group of people in the lunch line, a number of them would turn around and look at me as if I were talking to them, or I would get a number of forks from them. But no, I was just talking to that one person who I wanted the fork from. If I had said, “Hey Achi, please get me a fork,” the rest of the people in line would know that I’m telling Achi to get me the fork, and would just go on getting their food.

Names are not just a set of letters put together for a sweet sound to the ear, but a source of identification that differentiates one person from the rest. Though other people may have the same name as you do, the reason for them to have it may be different. Names are given to you because it means something important to the people that named you.

My name, Tsewang Dhoenkyi, is given to me by my paternal great-grandfather. He composed my name in such a way that it consists of my parent’s names as well. Tsewang is a common Tibetan name for both males and females. “Tse” means life, and is also a part of my mother’s name, Tsering, and “wang” comes from the Tibetan word wangdang, which means power. Dhoenkyi, however, is very unique. In fact, even my grandparents have never heard of anyone called Dhoenkyi besides me. “Dhoen” means accomplishment, and is in my father’s name (though it has a different spelling), Dhondup, and “kyi” means happiness and gives the name a feminine touch.  

All Tibetan names have a very strong meaning. In short my whole name summarizes to be: a powerful person who happily accomplishes all her purposes in life. That is what my parents hope for me, and I try very hard to live up to it.