Welcome to The Moth.
I'm Jodi Powell.
I've thought a lot about the names of things.
What's in a name?
How does it survive time, distance, language, and the stories we tell about it?
Does it change as it travels, like a game of telephone?
A vowel shifts, a sound drops, something gets lost, or something new is found in translation.
There's an old proverb that says, your name is your first story.
And I think that's true.
On this episode, we have two stories about names.
The names of people, the names of concepts, and how naming can shape the essence of the thing.
First up is Elise McInerney, who told this at a Melbourne story slam where the theme was green.
Here's Elise, live at the Moth.
Ever since I can remember, I have hated my surname.
McInerney, so nasal and so many consonants just banging up together.
In primary school, I would cringe through roll calls as teachers would fumble over it.
Elise McKinney, Elise McInerney, Elise McInerney.
In high school, when I'd stand in front of the mirror using my water bottle as a makeshift Academy Award.
I just could n't stretch the fantasy far enough to imagine them ever calling out a name as
inelegant as McInerney at the Oscars.