A Man is Known by Many Names.

This is a phrase I have heard a lot in my life and it has been the subject of a few of my poems.

A man is known by many names
Each name a different man
Son, Grandson, Brother, Husband
All different in who they are but still...
They are just one.

This is a scribble in my textbooks when I was about 13.
Do you think we are consciously different people depending on the role we are in at that moment?
It has always fascinated me, the aspect of change, throughout our lives.
There's a great quote from Dr Who that I love in regards to this topic.

Eleven - "We all change, when you think about it, we're all different people; all through our lives, and that's okay, that's good, you've gotta keep moving, so long as you remember all the people that you used to be."

I would love to hear what other people's opinions are on the subject.
Do you agree with any aspect?
Do you disagree completely?
Please don't be shy.

This, I think, goes back to essentialism, really. What is it about us that makes us who or what we are? Whether you are the same person you were a minute ago depends very much on what you mean by person and on little else.
And one doesn't have to be strict or definite about it either. There may be one context in which insisting on a model that would retain identity throughout the different stages is either necessary or helpful, and simultaneously another context in which the changes are emphasized and the essence of a thing is irrelevant. One can adapt to both circumstances of discussion at different times for different reasons. It is only in trying to unite the two into one overarching consistent context that one were to run into contradictions and there is seldom need for that unity to begin with.

Here is something that illustrates my perception:

Ship of Theseus paradox
Heraclitus Views

We are like music, ever changing and still the same.

This "Man" is known by many names, and it is quite fascinating how that changes things.


You are a narrative, told as required by the setting, and what that narrative is is altered by both the teller and the listener.

In all honesty....I never really saw myself as "Different People" I have always been....Me. Sure I take on different Jobs in life, being a wife, mom, Target truck unloader and stocker, highschooler, Jedi, Daughter..... But I've always seen them as such. Jobs or Professions. Not that i am different, just my circumstances are.

It's different for everyone. I think for me, it is easier to not seperate myself from my titles coz I am more....down to earth? I dunno how else to word it. Grounded. Is the best I can do sometimes too grounded (stubborn, unmoving, dislike change)....but grounded just the same

I see the different versions of who we are as parts in a play.

For each part of the play we take on a different mask... we do not act the same generally towards all people. 'Work' me is not quite the same as 'friends' me or 'family' me.

My aim is life is for there to only be one part in the play, and no mask.. but I think that is to work on.

Incidentally, on the subject of Identity as used by the laws of the country that apply to me:

The Council of Thirteen wrote: Identity is a complex, multifaceted notion. Each of us has a range of different identities defined through relations with others, position, status, actions, behaviours, characteristics, attitudes and the circumstances of the moment …

Oh Eleven....My favourite Doctor

I remember being conscious of this when I was quite young - in my teens. My first high school boy once broke up with me (he was a fickle young man, who broke up with me frequently over our 6 years of couple-hood, usually only for a couple hours, ha ha!) because he said that I'd changed and he wasn't sure that he loved the current me.

I remember being confused at that. Of course I'd changed. Everybody changed as they grew up and moved through life. The core of who I was hadn't changed, but I'd matured a bit, learned a bit, started doing some things differently. He acted as if I was a completely different person, rather than an evolved version of myself.

And I maintain that position. We evolve as time goes on. Sometimes, due to circumstance we are forced to regenerate, but, like the Doctor, we are still ourselves. I don't know how to define our identity other than the accumulation of past experiences and our reactions to them, but unless we're struck down with amnesia, that won't change whatever our role(s) in life.

We Wear the Mask
By Paul Laurence Dunbar
We wear the mask that grins and lies,
It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—
This debt we pay to human guile;
With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,
And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,
In counting all our tears and sighs?
Nay, let them only see us, while
We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries
To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile
Beneath our feet, and long the mile;
But let the world dream otherwise,
We wear the mask!

To me it means that who we are is never the destination in the journey. Who I am right now can be fundamentally altered by life events. The recent birth of my son has changed me. I look at things differently so in being a father has in a way created a new person. Also in being different people in different situations allows us to deal with trauma/stress while safeguarding our mental health.
We learn, we change.
Who I am now is not who I am destined to be. Who I am destined to be will be dictated by the trials I face, the joys I will feel, and the knowledge I will take on.