What’s in a Name…?

… says Montague in Shakespeare’s play ‘Romeo & Juliet’. Well, winner or loser, if you asked me. To make a bit more sense: My last name spells ‘Nieke’. The ‘e’ behind the ‘i’ is a typical German stress vowel, meant to lengthen the preceding ‘i’. For as long as I can think, people have rarely gotten my name’s spelling right at their first shot. You wouldn’t believe the number of (wrong) variations people have come up with over time.

But that’s a little beside the point. Point is instead that everybody (or most people) have heard of the famous sports goods company ‘Nike’. They took their company name of the Greek goddess of victory. Now that’s a good claim, isn’t it? What’s that got to do with me? Well, I lately found out that my family name once was indeed spelt the same way and that my entire family on my father’s side are descendants of a Greek immigrant of the late 19th century, would you believe? So in fact, my family name is that of a winner!

As I have begun to set sails for an entirely new life, I find it a good idea to underline that new direction by adopting the original name my family goes back to. Making the move from my past life to a new one, I find it an even better idea and great opportunity to consider changing my name to its genuine spelling. However, authorities and probably some money are before putting that plan into action. But I’ll eventually give it a shot, if all other paperwork doesn’t wear me out too much.

update: They let me know, all I have to make sure of as a prerequisite is to have my name changed in my passport and/or I.D. OK, will give it a try.