What's in a Name?

In my previous post I listed a set of questions I will answer. The first is fairly simple:
What's your name?

My name's Tom. A few people call me Tommy and fewer call me Thomas. Those who call me Tommy or Thomas are doing so in an affectionate way.

My name means 'twin', which mum didn't realise when she named me. Juliet asks, "What's in a name?" when she discovers Romeo is a Montague. I think names do hold a certain amount of significance. When a lover calls me Thomas or a best friend calls me Tommy, it comes from their deep knowledge and understanding of who I am. There's an intimacy there. But it's not necessarily my name, it's how they say my name.

But my name doesn't make me who I am. After all, I'm adopted and was originally named Philip. Understanding who I am comes from within not without.

I am Thomas (the twin), but that is my title. As the questions go deeper, so does the significance of my name as it interconnects with the many facets of my personality. For example, a salesperson calls me Thomas and it is formal and impersonal. A lover calls me Thomas and it feels intensely intimate.

What's in a name? It depends upon who's saying it. I guess I'm discovering what it is when I say Tom, Tommy or Thomas.