Michael Krant

My Name

Michael. In Hebrew its Mi-cha-el and means: who is like god. Its unknown how that is supposed to be interpreted, as a question or as a statement. There is a part of me that wants to believe it is a statement, however my greater judgment tells me otherwise. It's a common name, at least here in the U.S. One could say that Michael in America is the equivalent of the name Josh to Jews. Why do common names exist though? I've named many pets: my hamster, Stupel, A turtle, Tzvi, and some more hamsters. All of their names have been something unusual or unique, not cliched, like naming a dog Spot or Rover. Wouldn't the same thing apply to naming a kid?

I've asked my parents why they named me Michael, which interpretation of it they favored. They tell me because it's a nice name in both Hebrew and English, and that they always thought of naming me that. In the end, my conclusion as to my parents' motive is much different. I believe that it was simply ranked the most popular baby name in 1989 and they figured it was safer than something like Nechemya, or other names no one would ever be able to pronounce correctly.

Despite wondering whether or not the name was suitable, I found myself unable to find one that I could embrace in its stead. The closest I came was the name Uzi, but then realized I could get into some serious trouble in an airport if I let that fly a bit too often. No, my name was fine the way it was. Besides, I don't want to kill myself over it just yet, if I become too critical, I might end up turning into one of those people that end up officially changing their names to Coca-Cola Man or GoldenPalace.com.

This inquiry taught me a lot about names in general. It is more than a label, it is a part of you. If you change your name, you change the whole being everyone once knew, because your person is now called something different, as if you mutated into a different species warranting a new classification. If you don't believe me, do what I did and try to replace your name. Hard right? My name may not seem perfect; it's very common and seemingly unoriginal, but when you put the name with the person, we are perfect for each other, and that's all that matters.





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