Welcome to The Moth. I'm Jody Powell.

I've thought a lot about the names of things. What's in the 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 mouth. Ever since I can remember, I have hated my surname.

Macanurny, 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 McKinney, Elise McKinnery.

In high school, when I'd stand in front of the mirror using my water bottle

as a makeshift Academy Award, I just couldn't stretch the fantasy far enough to imagine them ever

calling out a name as ineligent as McInerney at the Oscars. I've had to spell it out for countless

receptionists and customer service representatives, and people I've been friends with for years will turn

around and ask, how do you say your last name again?

And as I got older, my surname took on some additional baggage.

My parents divorced when I was 12, and my mother quite reasonably chose not to keep her ex-husband's

surname.

And after the divorce, my relationship with my father deteriorated

pretty quickly. We had a lot of counselling during my teens, but nothing ever really got better.

...