And we were angry and poor and happy, and proud of seeing our names in print.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
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
Whatever you lend let it be your money, and not your name. Money you may get again, and, if not, you may contrive to do without it; name once lost you cannot get again, and, if you cannot contrive to do without it, you had better never have been born.
—Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton (1803–73) British Novelist, Poet, Politician
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
To name oneself is the first act of both the poet and the revolutionary. When we take away the right to an individual name, we symbolically take away the right to be an individual. Immigration officials did this to refugees; husbands routinely do it to wives.
—Erica Jong (b.1942) American Novelist, Feminist
Proper names are poetry in the raw. Like all poetry they are untranslatable.
—W. H. Auden (1907–73) British-born American Poet, Dramatist
Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.
—English Proverb
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, Political leader
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
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
A name pronounced is the recognition of the individual to whom it belongs. He who can pronounce my name aright, he can call me, and is entitled to my love and service.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Nicknames stick to people, and the most ridiculous are the most adhesive.
—Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865) Canadian Author, Humorist, Businessperson, Judge
Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.
—Logan Pearsall Smith (1865–1946) American-British Essayist, Bibliophile
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
If the fairest features of the landscape are to be named after men, let them be the noblest and worthiest men alone.
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–62) American Philosopher
Call a spade a spade.
—Robert Burton (1577–1640) English Scholar, Clergyman
Forgive your enemies, but never forget their names.
—Unknown
A good name lost is seldom regained.—When character is gone, all is gone, and one of the richest jewels of life is lost forever.
—Joel Hawes
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
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
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
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
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, Literary Critic
If names are not correct, language will not be in accordance with the truth of things.
—Confucius (551–479 BCE) Chinese Philosopher
What signifies knowing the names, if you know not the nature of things.
—Benjamin Franklin (1706–90) American Political Leader, Inventor, Diplomat
The future has many names: For the weak, it means the unattainable. For the fearful, it means the unknown. For the courageous, it means opportunity.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
We do what we must, and call it by the best names.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
He lives who dies to win a lasting name.
—Henry Drummond
God has many names, though He is only one Being.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
A person with a bad name is already half-hanged.
—Common Proverb