Karl Wirth
10/25/13
Period 4
Name Essay
What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
-William Shakespeare
The name Carl is stereotyped as a nerdy name. If you have ever watched
Jimmy Neutron, you will be familiar with his best friend Carl Weezer. He is a goodhearted kid, but a real dork. Many shows besides this use Carl as the name for a
nerdy character. For example, my sister was watching this show on Disney Channel
called Dog with a Blog, and a new nerdy character was introduced, and what was his
name? You guessed it, Carl. However, if you made the astute observation of reading
my heading, you will notice my name is not spelled C-a-r-l; my name is spelled
K-a-r-l. The definition of Karl in Urban Dictionary is, “A really cool guy, nice once
you get to know him, also extremely funny and sarcastic.” If that doesn’t sum up my
personality, I don’t know what does.
The symbol I would choose to represent my name is an odd one.
Now, you may be taken aback when I tell you the symbol that I feel best
represents my name is a piece of filet mignon. The reason I would choose
this is Karl is the more rare form of Carl, but Karl is better than Carl, if I
do say so myself. Filet Mignon is a delicacy because it is so rare in the cow,
and it tastes incredible. In conclusion, Karl is a delicacy due to its rarity and just
sheer awesomeness. Also, a little side note, filet mignon is one of my absolute
favorite foods.
Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive.
-Thomas C. Haliburton
Nicknames, something that can build someone up, or just as easily tear
someone down. Now, you may be thinking, I have never heard anyone call Karl
anything but Karl? Well, your partially correct, no one calls me anything but Karl in
school. In camp however, I am not even sure if everyone even knows my name is
Karl. For the four weeks I go to camp each summer, I am no longer Karl; I am Kdub
(KW, first syllable in W is dub).
Camp is where I break free, and I can truly be myself. Now
don’t get me wrong, I am not afraid to be myself during the school
year, but during camp I can totally relax, certainly not in a physical
sense, camp is where I probably get the most physical activity all
year, but in a mental sense. At camp I always start with a clean slate.
Camp is like a shower after a long year of school. Camp is a new beginning. This
is why, as my symbol, I chose a broken chain, to represent me breaking free.
You're stuck with being yourself, so the important thing is to find people who like that.
-Andrew Davies
In life, there are few things we are completely stuck with. However, one of
the few is our name. Don’t misinterpret this, I love being named Karl, it is a very
unique and cool name. Likewise, the extreme uniqueness of it can become a little
annoying. Have you ever been on vacation and you want to buy a souvenir with your
name on it? Or have you wanted to buy a water bottle for someone with his/her
name on it? Unfortunately, for me the answer is no. I have NEVER found any item
with my name on it. The closest I have ever come was
when I was 7 I bought an LBI license plate for my bike
that said Karla, and when we got home we just put tape
over the A. Of course now that I am older, I no longer have
as strong of a desire to own personalized items, but the
rarity of my name is often still a nuisance. Having said that,
the individuality of my name also has its benefits. One
example would be when I introduce myself to someone; they always remember me
because of the scarcity of people named Karl.
Names, once they are in common use, quickly become mere sounds, their etymology
being buried, like so many of the earth's marvels, beneath the dust of habit.
-Salman Rushdie
When people seek their past, they overlook one tool that could aid them
immensely, their last name. To us, last names are just how we identify one person
out of a large crowd of others, or how we associate one person with another, but
back in the olden days, last names were so much more. They told people what
occupation you specialized in, or what clan you were in. A perfect example would be
Smith, one of the most common last names in America. People who have the last
name Smith most likely had an ancestor who was a blacksmith. Some other
examples would Miller, someone who worked at or owned a mill, or even more
obvious ones such as Cook or Carpenter. My last name is Wirth, another perfect
example. In German, Wirt (without the h) means innkeeper. Inns back in those days
were a combination of a small hotel and a bar. In fact, my great-grandfather who
was not in the Wirth family, owned an inn in Elizabeth and he was call the Wirt. My
last name is an interesting one, but I am certainly proud to be a Wirth. That is why
my picture to represent my last name is a picture of my family and me.
To conclude, although the main purpose our names serve is to identify us, it
is what we make of our names that defines who we are and what we want to be in
life.
“Names are merely a means of identification, nothing more, nothing less.”
-Karl Wirth
I could not have said it better myself.