While having coffee with my friend Skye yesterday, we got into talking about how people easily change their names in the US. You see, in some countries, you have to go through court to change even a single letter in your name.

Then again, in the US, my friend Skye enlightened me that they have a Social Security number (SSN) which is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents. Its primary purpose is to track individuals for taxation purposes. In recent years however, the SSN has become a de facto national identification number. Losing your SSN won’t be a social security disability because you can easily retrieve that.

The SSN being their national ID generally means that if you already have that 9-digit number, you pretty much can change your name to anything like what Susan Caraway did in the book StarGirl by Jerry Spinelli. She changed her name to “Pocket Mouse”, then “Mudpie”, then “Hullygully”, then “Stargirl” and it was okay with the teachers and everyone else. To Stargirl, her name was like a shirt- something she wore rather than something she was.

This is quite true actually. And I quote from Juliet (Shakespeare), “”What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, By any other name would smell as sweet.”