The Scrivener
| Publication year | 2021 |
| Pages | 60 |
| Citation | Vol. 32 No. 5 Pg. 60 |
What's in a Name?
By Scott Moise
'Tis but thy name that is my enemy; Thou art thyself, though not a Montague. What's Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O, be some other name! What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And for that name which is no part of thee Take all myself.
William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (Act II, Scene I, lines 38-49).
Poor Juliet. If Romeo had only been named Romeo Brown or Romeo McGillicudy or anything but Romeo Montague, he could have married Juliet and lived happily ever after. Instead, well, you know what happened: poison and a dagger, all because of their names. Names do not usually cause such tragic results, but even in our legal profession, they can still create a lot of trouble.
Although it was about three centuries too late to help Juliet, the South Carolina Supreme Court actually defined "what's in a name": "The word 'name' is thus defined in Century Dictionary: 'A word by which a person or thing is denoted; the word or words by which an individual person or thing, or class of persons or things, is designated, and distinguished from others; appellational denomination; designation.' " Koth v. Pallachucola Club, 79 S.C. 514, 517-18, 61 S.E. 77, 78 (1908) (holding that taxpayers-not county tax officials- are supposed to unravel complicated inheritances that cause errors of property owners' names on deeds). Later, the supreme court was more specific: "Generally, a person's name is 'the designation by which he is known and called in the community in which he lives and is best known.'" Stevenson v. Ellisor, 270 S.C. 560, 562, 243 S.E.2d 445, 446 (1978).
What are the components of a name?
Most people have three names: first, middle, and last. Earlier cases referred to first names as "Christian" or "baptismal" names. See, e.g., William Alexander & Bros. v. Davidson & Davidson, 27 S.C.L. 49, 51 (S.C. App. L. 1841). However, as the court of appeals later noted, "[T]here is no union here between Church and State, and no obligation on parents to baptize their children." City Council of Charleston v. King, 15 S.C.L. 487, 489-90 (S.C. App. L. & Eq. 1828). Now, courts just refer to a person's first name simply as "first name,-given name," or "forename." See, e.g., Wade v. Luerre, No. 619CV03576JFAKFM, 2020 WL 6828660, at *1 (D.S.C. Oct. 27, 2020) ("The letter further sought to re-add Nurse Brezzle as a party if at some point during litigation the plaintiff was able to determine Nurse Brezzle's first name."); George Sink PA Injury Lawyers v. George Sink II Law Firm LLC, No. 2:19-CV-01206-DCN, 2019 WL 6318778, at *8 (D.S.C. Nov. 26, 2019) ("While plaintiff promoted Sink Jr. as a lawyer working for Sink PA using his given name, it certainly never acquiesced to his use of the GEORGE SINK marks to promote his own independent legal services."); Hammonds v. Jackson, No. 1:13-CV-711-MHS-WEJ, 2015 WL 12867065, at *1 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 16, 2015) ("Despite the informality, for convenience the Court generally refers to these unrelated persons by their forenames.").
Courts have referred to last names as "last names," "surnames," "family names," and "patronymic"...
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