Recently, there has been a lot of hullabaloo on the inter-webs about people being kicked of Google+ for not using their real names. As someone that goes by the name Oo pronounced Oh Oh, I get the “what is your real name question quite a lot.
My comment on this topic on Fred Wilson’s blog post on this topic was quite long I decided to blog my thoughts on this “real name issue.
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I think the fundamental question is “What is your name?”
I have always been called Oo (my initials) by family and friends. My Mum, Dad, Sister who have known me for 28 years of my life have NEVER called me any name but Oo. They only mention what can be said to be my first name when I am being introduced to some people.
90% of the people who have known me in the last few years do not even know by any other name but Oo. If you go to where I have lived in the last 5 years and ask for my formal name, I would walk pass and they would not know who you are talking to .
Recently, I have attended tech events, introduced myself as Oo had a quick chat and moved on only for the person to come back and say, “Hey, wait a minute, are you OoTheNigerian (Thank you Twitter!)?”
What then is my name?
I would say it depends on the circumstance, but the main reason for having a name is for identification. Whatever can identify you to a person is your name to that person or authority.
It is also interesting to note that your name is not for you to use but for others.
When it is time to write my cheques, you’d be writing it to Osita Orji Nwoye. Money has a way of settling these disputes 😀
So what is your real name?
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Bonus: But why and how did I come to bear Oo?
Legend has is that when this great man was born, his father’s people gave him Ositadimma and his mother’s people gave him Orji (not orgy!!! ). However, when it was to be decided what name I would bear, a war nearly broke out between the village of Abba and Umunya. My brilliant and diplomatic mother, wanting to avert a crisis had a moment of inspiration (hopefully inspired by God) and decided to combine the initials and it became Oo :).
This awesome name has a logo and its own song embedded below. Go ahead and download to your heart’s pleasure.