Once upon a time, a name was power. If you know something’s true name, then it was yours. We have moved on a long way from those dark days, where anyone believed in such convoluted, magical forces. We now have science and mathematics. We don’t need that kind of magic.

But names still have an incredible power. Names govern how we see the world. Hidden names, middle names, nicknames, noms de plume. They all have some very strong powers.

Take my name as a frinstance here. Oscar Richard Kelly. That is my name on my birth certificate. And indeed on facebook. Some people use their middle name on facebook in order to separate themselves out from a mass of other people with the same first and last name. Not me. After all, there’s not going to be a seething morass of Oscar Kellys out there in the ether. I’m not even sure why I put it there to start with, but I do like it. I like having two names, and I like admitting to them.

Other people keep their middle names close to their chest, out of embarrassment, dislike, or just plain old simple disregard. I like middle names, I like being able to use someone’s full name on occasion. It feels like an intimacy, like being let into a family secret, or allowed access to the inner circle.

I’ve never been embarrassed by my middle name. It’s hard to be embarrassed by Richard when my first name is Oscar. Once upon a time, I found Oscar awkward and unusual, but I grew into that, and in a beautiful case of nominative determinism, became awkward and unusual to match it. The most embarrassment Richard could ever give me it the nickname Dick. And enough people call me a dick on a regular basis that I can cope with that.

Nicknames are the same. Nicknames let someone into an inner circle. I know some people who I only ever think of in nicknames. People will ask me about them using their real name, and I flounder awkwardly, until I find the name I know attached to that. Other people have nicknames that they use now, in this world of Facebook and internet, just for the purposes of internet interaction.

These, like a modern nom de plume, shield someone from the glaring lights of the internet search engines. They don’t always work, admittedly, but they do serve a purpose. Again, unless you’re in the know, you can’t find them online. Because there is one of the true powers of the name in this day and age. If someone uses their name online, on Facebook or elsewhere, then you can look them up. Like a massive, bloated copy of Who’s Who, these social media accounts make finding everything about an individual easier than ever.

Then again, there are some people who are given the wrong name at birth. You find out their name, and you think… That name really doesn’t fit you. Some people grow into an unsuitable name, but others change the name to fit themselves. There again is the magic – Some people change to fit the name.

The power of names never went away. It became something different, for sure. But if someone has your name, they do have a bit of power over you. Can you remember the dread that ran down your spine when your mother used your middle name as well as the rest? Can you remember the first time a nickname became yours? When you name something, it becomes real. Your name makes you real.