"What's in a name? A rose by any other name smells as sweet." Or does it? This well-known line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is true, but only up to a point. A rose named hydrogen sulfide might remind us of that unmistakable rotten-egg odor, causing us to avoid an otherwise lovely flower that emits a delicate fragrance.

The names we are given carry a tremendous influence throughout our lives. The names we are called frequently become synonymous with our identity. A nineteenth-century governor of Texas, James S. "Big Jim" Hogg, named his baby girl Ima.1 He did not discover the significance of this choice until days later, when he received a copy of her birth certificate, which read "Ima Hogg." I cannot help but wonder if he named his next child "Ura."

Many celebrities have been pres…