Isn't it weird how when you've known someone all their life, their name becomes them...so much so that you actually stop thinking of the name as a name but instead as a person? Like, tonight, it suddenly dawned on me that I have a cousin named "Emilee". I like the name Emily, I think it's pretty, and it's like dur, I have a cousin with that name (different spelling) but it's just never made the connection of my cousin and that particular name, because she IS that name.

And you know how you imagine names sometimes? Like how cliche cheerleader names are Brittany and Ashley and Kimberley and Amber (no, didn't know that? Well, take a look in highschools and you'll see...), just like jock names are Brad, Brandon, Brock...
And it's weird to think *I* am a "Samantha". What kind of girl is a "Samantha"?? Is it a prissy, stuck-up name? It's a pretty color, I'll give it that. Unlike Ashley (sorry to all you Ashleys...but it's a HORRIBLE yellow color...) and Corey (sorry again, Coreys).

It's funny how we can hear a name but not just THINK of the name...somehow it's connected to someone who HAS that name or even PEOPLE who have that name, and they tend to influence it and make it seem like a pattern. (Like the deal with cheerleader and jock names...) I can hear/see/read the name Andrew but I don't just hear/see/read the name Andrew, I see a color for starters, but I also see my older brother. And generally, the color of the name is my brother's color, because it is his name and I've known him my whole and that's what the name means to me now. Strange, isn't it?
However, even stranger, if another Andrew were to come along, he can have a completely different color.

I know 4 Jon/John's at school! My bro, my "adopted" (his definition, not mine) bro, a friend, and a dude in my photography circle. Same names, yet when I hear "Jon", I think of my bro first. He defines the name. And yet they each have their own 4 separate colors!

So it all makes me wonder, while I don't think my name is prissy or stuck up, and that it has a pretty color, how DO other people view the name and me? Does "Samantha" mean something bad for them? And does our viewing of names like this, knowing people who define the name, cause us to pre-judge other people? I know it has a couple times for me.



Or, wait, do people not think of names like this at all, and I'm just crazy? Well, we all know I'm crazy, but more crazy?