Monday Meme: What's in a Name?

’Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.
What’s Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O! be some other name:
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name, which is no part of thee,
Take all myself.

A lot of people forget that this speech comes in the context of Juliet not wanting the parentally-subsidized marriage at fourteen with Paris and seeing Romeo through a crowd as her escape from the prison being built around her. Both Romeo and Juliet are emotional, sensitive, impulsive creatures - Romeo literally begins the play lamenting his last lost love hours before falling for Juliet - and so in a way the idea that names are insignificant, that a rose would smell as sweet if it were called skunkweed, is basically flawed. The entire rest of the play gives lie to Juliet's words above, as the names Capulet and Montague destroy both of them as well as a significant chunk of collateral damage. Names, Shakespeare says, are important even when we wish they weren't.

1. What’s your SL name? Deoridhe Quandry (pronounced dthey-or-ee) 


2. What made you choose this name?
 
Deoridhe has been my name since around 1996, when it replaced the name I had "married" my then boyfriend on, Aesdana, which was my name for maybe six months. By then I was Asatru, and closest to Odin, but I was also drawn to the Irish language because it was part of my heritage, so I used an Irish/English dictionary to look up words I wanted to associate myself with. 'Deoiridhe' is on of the words in Irish for an outsider; I was looking for a word for wanderer but hadn't yet internalized what being a wanderer would mean in the Irish society of the time. I almost chose a word which was a grave insult in Irish, but luckily I reverse-checked all of my words and didn't want to be a traitor. Deoiridhe was the only word without the traitor implication. I dropped the second /i/ because in Unix your name needed to be only eight characters; now and then I consider picking up the /i/ again, since nine is a potent number for AsatruaR.

My original full name was: Deoridhe Faelis-Tiene and she was, is, and remains my Mary Sue with an overly complicated backstory. The different last names have come to represent different aspects of her, so Faelis-Tiene would be the oldest and original. Deoridhe Grimsdottir is who I identify with the most closely - the last name indication my relationship with Odin in his aspect as Grimnir, the masked one. A lot of people who know me as Quandry were shocked when I showed up as Grimsdottir because they didn't understand why I had a "new name," not knowing that me-as-Deoridhe predates the creation of Second Life. I selected the last name Quandry out of the ones there the week I signed up the second time because my friend liked it better than the other name I was tempted by, Constantine; the first time I signed onto Second Life I selected Starr because I like stars. I think Quandry fits me, as I'm rather strange and mercurial.




3. What’s your SL nickname, or what do most people call you? (if applicable) Most people call me Deo, pronounced either day-oh or dee-oh. I've had a few people call me Deor, and for a while I mispelled my name Deoridle and people called me day-oh-riddle, but Deo works.


4. What’s your SL display name? Why do you choose to have one? (if applicable) I don’t have one. I've considered switching to Deoridhe Grimsdottir, but it seems a little silly now.


5. Do you like your SL name? Love it.


6. If you could change your SL name, what would it be? I would like more Deoridhe's with different last names. I have six, but I would have liked a lot more. They're my little army of mes.


7. What’s the craziest/funniest SL name you’ve ever seen? I'm inordinately fond of all of the Wrigglesworth last names, with Pandora as my favorite. 


8. What’s the coolest (your favorite) SL name you’ve ever seen? Imnotgoing Sideways makes me giggle. I like any of the names which are puns, though; when I created my alphabet alts, I managed a few puns, like Under Highwater and Titillation Coy.

A few notes on my outfit, which is an amazing kimono from Falln Angel Creations that I found in his Spring Ostara hunt and attempted to style in a pale imitation of the seasonally driven kimono of the Geisha. I'm wearing an amazing skin from Flower & Willow, which specializes in looks for the Flower and Willow world where the Geisha shone at night. My gorgeous hair is from kisetsu, and I believe is for festivals but I may have mismatched a more formal Geisha style rather than something appropriate for my somewhat inept Maiko. The Maiko, who are learning to be Geisha, tend to be much more colorful and fluttery with elaborate items in their hair, while the mature Geisha is quieter and yet at the same time so much more skilled. I was aiming for a Maiko almost at the end of her training, squeezing the last bit of elaborate costuming out of the world before entering the more somber style of a full Geisha. I had planned to take pictures at somewhere I saw on my list of locations blogs but I lost the post; instead I ended up at Maruyama Hanamachi - Old Japan, and I consider myself the richer for finding this amazing sim.

( More pictures here. )

Credits:

Skin: Flower & Willow, Jnr Maiko Skin - Hairline
Eyes: De La Soul, RooMee Eyes - Rainbow
Ears: Illusions, Seelie
Eyelashes 1: SLink, Mesh Lashes
Eyelashes 2: Flugeln Brise, 05-A
Lipstick: Adore & Abhor, Silent Star - Baroque
Hair: kisetsu, Oshidori Hair
Kanzashi: Falln Angel Creations, April Kanzashi
Wings: Fancy Fairy, Azarelle
Kimono: Falln Angel Creations, Spring Green (Ostara Hunt Prize)
Hands: SLink, Mesh Hands
Nails: Adore & Abhor, Rhine & Rose

Poses: Glitterati

Location: Maruyama Hanamachi - Old Japan
Light Settings: Phototools - Dream Book  modified
Water Settings: Mirror Glass

Photographed by Deoridhe Quandry
Post processing: Cropping, only