What's in a name?

Names are funny things. Ages ago, in many countries, your name was directly based on what your father's name was. Scandinavian's used the names of farms, or family properties. Russians added 'eva, or 'ova's on to the end. Last names, during history, at times have been, well, kind of, optional. (But, our ancestors didn't have 2 million Jennifer's running around, either.)
Names were a thing of pride. Families advertised who they were. Standards and Banner's were made, so that wherever they went, people knew who was coming. They had a battle cry specific to them. Plaids were picked, and still associated with clans and families to this day.
If we considered people to be "less" than us, we took away their names. (Think, slavery.)In a way, we still do this, with prisoners.
Does your name make you who you are? Most of us reading this are adults, and over the years have accepted, and even come to like the names our parents gave us. But, we creatively find other ways to rename ourselves. I have tons of stuff with the name Mielikki on it. (She was a forest goddess in the epic Finnish poem, the Kalevala.). At work, when I am in a 'mood', my friends call me "Buffy", the LVN, or, in some cases, the Nurses Aide slayer. (Another story, I'll save that one for later.) We hide our names, most of the time, in this big wide world of internet. Because people might steal our names, and by doing that, they steal our identities. Is your identity really all tied up in your name? It appears so.
I still carry the last name of my ex husband, left long ago. I grapple with this, wanting to change my name back to my father's, but knowing that the world will get so confused if I do so. My nursing liscence is in a name not my own, my discharge from the Military, my passport, my life. All to a name I feel no connection to. People constantly ask me if I am Italian because of this name. Half the time I just say yes, so that I don't have to explain.
Where am I going with this? I don't really know, maybe I already got there. This is what my brain, with no sleep, looks like. And work is already calling, asking if I can work an extra shift. Mielikki and Buffy both say NO!