Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site watmath.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!srradia From: srradia@watmath.UUCP (sanjay Radia) Newsgroups: net.kids Subject: Re: What's in a name? Message-ID: <7041@watmath.UUCP> Date: Wed, 29-Feb-84 14:21:23 EST Article-I.D.: watmath.7041 Posted: Wed Feb 29 14:21:23 1984 Date-Received: Fri, 2-Mar-84 07:29:52 EST References: <707@dartvax.UUCP> Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario Lines: 30 I'm reposting this since it didn't get through the first time. I don't have a solution for what last name to give to a child because it doesn't make much of a difference. If you are worried about being fair or non sexist then flip coins. Or better still let them be named after the mother for the next 4000 years or so to compensate for the last 4000 years. Last names are used by governments to keep track of people and the less they know about us the better. The important thing is for parents to change their attitude. The most important name is the childs first name since that is the name that singles out the child as an indivdual (by the way, I hate that custom, in some families, of naming a son after the father as in John Jr. - the child deserves his very own name which isn't begged, borrowed or stolen). Your child should be taught that first and foremost he is John (or whatever his first name) who is a human being and not John who is, say, a Robinson. Many parents (especially fathers) insist on giving their last name to their children because they want to them to continue their heritage. Children are your gifts to the future - so why ask them to drag your past with them. If aything, become like your children instead of making them become like you. Maybe you are proud what you or your father have done but it doesn't make a damn difference after you are dead. Isn't it better to be like the rest of the animal kingdom and leave no marks after you perish; if you think you (or maybe human beings in general) are any superior to any animal or thing on this earth then you .... (words fail me). All this reminds me of a famous cemetery that I visited while I was living in Paris. Some people have left behind tombstones that are 2 stories high - these people are leaving behind an indication of the size of their ego and nothing more. sanjay