No matter how unpleasant your name sounds, when you become a success story your name suddenly becomes memorable and travels around the world, transverses the airwaves, and moves from mouth to mouth.  Your name may have been difficult to pronounce or spell; suddenly it becomes frequently mentioned and written across different media.  What amazes one is the ease with which people begin to pronounce and write the name that was once difficult to mention.

It is interesting that people, who even find such name difficult, make sincere effort to learn how to pronounce or spell it right. Such is the allure of success. The name now sounds like music in the ears of people. It is a name that rings a bell whenever it is mentioned. Admirers, fans of the success take such names as nicknames; it’s printed on shirts and associated with different stuffs even like hair cut style.

Some people’s names have refused to die even when the bearers of the name have long been buried.  Their names keep coming up in discourses, issues and activities in the different fields where they contributed knowledge. These are people who solved significant problems during their lifetime. Their ideas and solutions are still very much with us, touching our lives significantly.

It took me a long time to know that many inventions were named after the persons that came up with the ideas that birthed them.  In particular, I was really surprised to know that the “biro” (ballpoint pen), that I have been using to write, is the names of Laszlo and George Biro who invented the ballpoint pen in 1938.  Later on, I got to know that names such as Mercedes-Benz, Honda are names of people. I think the names of these inventors have evolved into household names, an integral part of our everyday life.  We enjoy value from the inventions; their names represent value that we are willing to pay for.  Generations yet unborn will hear of these names and probably think that are names of things. Their influence travels from generation to generation.

What does your name represent?  Does your name represent positive value?  Does it represent solutions?  What are you doing to live up to your potential? When will your name inspire young people?  What are you doing to touch the lives of people positively?  What problems are you solving?  Are creating value or creating problems?