After many busy weekends, I finally found myself free on a Sunday morning. So I decided to go to the parlour and treat myself. A young girl, just 2 months into her job, was attending to me. She didn’t speak much but still came across as friendly. I appreciate this a lot because I hate talking, especially when in a parlour, but I also don’t want to come across as taciturn. So the girls’ demeanour helped quite a bit. I also don’t ask the person’s name in the beginning, because I feel like I want to know the name only if I think I’m going to ask for their service again. Not good, I know. So I did not yet know her name.
A curtain divides the parlour into two sections. I was on one side of the curtain which basically blocked my view of the entrance. A customer walked in and asked for the owner. The girl was still with me and was talking to this customer from behind the curtain. After a brief exchange, the customer decided to come back later. As she was leaving, the girl quickly asked her name. I was looking at the girl’s face at this point. On hearing the name her face brightened and she smiled. I was amused at this reaction and a thought struck me. When the customer left, I asked the girl her name. Turned out I was right and that her name was the same as the customers. I smiled and asked her if that was the reason for her reaction when she first heard the customer’s name. The girl laughed and said yes.
That got me thinking about this whole episode. Why did the girl feel so happy when she found another person with her name? and why do I do that too?
Namesake is a term used to characterise a person, place, thing, quality, action, state, or idea that has the same, or a similar, name to another.
I think that when I find another person with the same name it almost feels like I’ve found a twin? I tend to try and find similarities in our personalities, in the way we dress, etc. This sounds so creepy 😂 It’s almost like my name stands for a set of traits, which somehow are shared by all the Tanvis of the world. Maybe we like the same food or we have the same hobbies or maybe we both wear glasses. I try to find at least one similarity. It’s a reflex! I can’t help it! I’m sure when we were kids, we found a certain pride when a famous celebrity shared our name. It felt like someone close to you was out there achieving things and maybe you can too.
If a person shares my name, in Dutch there is the word “naamgenoot”, meaning roughly ‘member of the same name‘.
Sounds like we are on the same team “Members of the same name” 😂 Maybe there is a Tanvi out there who is my complete opposite but it’ll still feel like we are on the same team 🤷♀️
Hi to all the Tanvis out there 👋 You’ve got this!