What’s in a name?

William Shakespeare once said:

“What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet”

This is a classic line from Romeo and Juliet where Shakespeare tries to make the point that a name is meaningless. Unfortunately for Shakespeare, in today’s world a name is very important.

One of the very first things we are taught as children is to say our name. This is reinforced when we begin school and one of the first sentences we learn when we take French. Our name identifies us and links us to our history – our educational history, employment history, credit history, etc. What happens then when you decide to change your name or worse yet, when someone steals your name?