From Daniel Septimus', "I Know My Last Name is Septimus," Fall '00 From Daniel Septimus', "I Know My Last Name is Septimus," Fall '00In 1989, Corin Nemec -- best known for his lead role in Parker Lewis Can't Lose -- starred in a made-for-TV movie about a young boy who was abducted and raised by his abusive kidnapper. He knows his first name is Steven. As college students, we are in little danger of being "lost" in the way that Steven was. However, we have our own ways of being lost. Our identities are ambiguous, continuously being challenged and questioned. My identity issues, like Steven's, are very much related to my name. In the Jewish community in which I was raised, it is traditional to be given a Hebrew name. My parents named me Yechiel after my grandfather's grandfather, who was killed by the Nazis. However, my parents believed that it would be appropriate to give me an English name as well. A standard English name would be easier to pronounce and would allow me to blend into American society; to this end, my parents named me Daniel. For as long as I can remember, I have been called by both of my first names. In my Jewish day school, I was called Yechiel by my Judaic studies teachers and Daniel by my secular studies instructors. For the most part, my family and friends from home call me Yechiel. Here at Penn, I use both names. It is not uncommon for me to find myself among a group of people who refer to me with different first names. I have to think twice every time I introduce myself. I have even been asked whether I was related to myself. But what's in a name anyway? Do multiple names necessarily yield multiple identities? From experience, I must answer this question in the affirmative. I'm sure we all recognize how the way we behave around our family differs from the way we behave around our friends. However, for most people, these distinct roles are not canonized into linguistic categories. Reality reflects language and my dual identity is very real. Why don't I just pick one name and stick with it? Why deal with the confusion I cause myself and others? I have come to realize that my situation is far from unique. Anyone who has heard a professor read roll call has heard students amend the names that are written on the roster. Many are from immigrant families and identify publicly with a name distinct from their official name. Indeed, I have come to embrace my multifarious identity. I have come to terms with the fact that my identity is disjointed and fragmented. Kenneth Gergen, a Psychology professor at Swarthmore, has challenged many classical understandings of psychological pathology. Gergen approvingly quotes a statement which says that, "Identities are highly complex, tension filled, contradictory, and inconsistent entities. Only the one who claims to have a simple, definite, and clear-cut identity has an identity problem." Western culture's intellectual fondness for consistency, monism and coherence can be traced back to our Greek and Hebraic roots. The Greek idea of logos, a universal unifying principle through which all things are interrelated, is the basis for Western science and philosophy -- the attempt to find overarching principles to explain phenomena. It is no wonder that Greek philosophy teamed up with Judeo-Christian monotheism as the foundations of Western culture. Monotheism is also based on the supreme power of a single unified principle: God. Interestingly, logos is also the Greek word for "word." Just as there is only one logos, there should only be one word -- that is, one word to correspond to each individual object. We are no longer living in a culture which favors oneness and universals. In the post-modern world, pluralism and multiculturalism are two of our most important and fundamental values. For me, these concepts don't only apply to my interpersonal relationships. They apply to my intrapersonal relationships as well. I am not one person with two names and an identity problem. I have two names that reflect different roles and different identities. Walt Whitman once wrote: "Do I contradict myself? Very well then, I contradict myself. (I am large. I contain multitudes.)" Do I contradict myself? I don't know. I am torn between my two first names. Luckily, I'm fairly certain that my last name is Septimus.
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