What’s in a Name?

2020-01-14T14:32:49-05:00

What's in a Name? For better or worse, our names outlive us – in public records and private mementoes; in brick-and-mortar archives and the boundless vaults of cyberspace; and for a time, at least, in human memory. Some names retain a measure of familiarity, affixed to buildings, streets, and even entire communities. Others are invoked by pundits and debated by historians. But, in the fullness of time, most monikers slowly "fade away," as Douglas MacArthur said of old soldiers. Our best shot at immortality lies in the dictionary, where names – now eponyms – transcend the bodies of their owners, defining the epochs in [...]