What signifies knowing the names, if you know not the nature of things.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
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 (b.1947) Indian-born British Novelist
Some men do as much begrudge others a good name, as they want one themselves; and perhaps that is the reason of it.
—William Penn (1644–1718) American Entrepreneur, Philosopher, Political Leader
The name of a man is a numbing blow from which he never recovers.
—Marshall Mcluhan (1911–80) Canadian Writer, Thinker, Educator
A nickname is the hardest stone that the devil can throw at a man.
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830) English Essayist
A good name, like good will, is attained by many actions and may be lost by one.
—Unknown
Don’t call me an icon. I’m just a mother trying to help.
—Diana, Princess of Wales (1961–97) English Royal, Humanitarian, Peace Activist
I have a passion for the name of “Mary,” For once it was a magic sound to me, And still it half calls up the realms of fairy, Where I beheld what never was to be.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
You should never name an animal which is not yours to keep, or which you intend to eat.
—Deborah Boliver Boehm (b.1946) American Travel Writer
Named softly as the household name of one whom God had taken.
—Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806–61) English Poet
A man’s name is not like a mantle which merely hangs about him, and which one perchance may safely twitch and pull, but a perfectly fitting garment, which, like the skin, has grown over him, at which one cannot rake and scrape without injuring the man himself.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
In real life, unlike in Shakespeare, the sweetness of the rose depends upon the name it bears. Things are not only what they are. They are, in very important respects, what they seem to be.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
A name truly good is the aroma from virtuous character; it is a spontaneous emanation from genuine excellence.—Such a name is not only remembered on earth, but it is written in heaven.
—James Hamilton (1814–67) Scottish Protestant Minister
The invisible thing called a Good Name is made up of the breath of numbers that speak well of you.
—E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax (1881–1959) British Politician, Diplomat
We don’t know when our name came into being or how some distant ancestor acquired it. We don’t understand our name at all, we don’t know its history and yet we bear it with exalted fidelity, we merge with it, we like it, we are ridiculously proud of it as if we had thought it up ourselves in a moment of brilliant inspiration.
—Milan Kundera (1929–2023) Czech Novelist
Good name, in man or woman, is the immediate jewel of their souls.—Who steals my purse steals trash; but he that filches from me my good name, robs me of that which not enriches him, and makes me poor indeed.
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
With the vulgar and the learned, names have great weight; the wise use a writ of inquiry into their legitimacy when they are advanced as authorities.
—Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann (1728–95) Swiss Philosophical Writer, Naturalist, Physician
I think a child should be allowed to take his father’s or mother’s name at will on coming of age. Paternity is a legal fiction.
—James Joyce (1882–1941) Irish Novelist, Poet
No better heritage can a father bequeath to his children than a good name; nor is there in a family any richer heirloom than the memory of a noble ancestor.
—James Hamilton (1814–67) Scottish Protestant Minister
No orator can top the one who can give good nicknames.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive.
—Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865) Canadian Author, Humorist, Jurist
I came to live in a country I love; some people label me a defector. I have loved men and women in my life; I’ve been labeled “the bisexual defector” in print. Want to know another secret? I’m even ambidextrous. I don’t like labels. Just call me Martina.
—Martina Navratilova (b.1956) Czech-born American Sportsperson
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love…
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet…
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616) British Playwright
Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them.
—Burton Hillis (William E. Vaughan) (1915–77) American Columnist, Author
The beginning of wisdom is to call things by their right names.
—Chinese Proverb
A name is a kind of face whereby one is known; wherefore taking a false name is a kind of visard whereby men disguise themselves.
—Thomas Fuller (1608–61) English Cleric, Historian
I don’t like your miserable lonely single “front name.” It is so limited, so meager; it has no versatility; it is weighted down with the sense of responsibility; it is worn threadbare with much use; it is as bad as having only one jacket and one hat; it is like having only one relation, one blood relation, in the world. Never set a child afloat on the flat sea of life with only one sail to catch the wind.
—D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930) English Novelist, Playwright, Poet, Essayist, Critic
God has many names, though He is only one Being.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
One of the greatest artifices the devil uses to engage men in vice and debauchery, is to fasten names of contempt on certain virtues, and thus fill weak souls with a foolish fear of passing for scrupulous, should they desire to put them in practice.
—Blaise Pascal (1623–62) French Mathematician, Physicist, Theologian
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