There was a minor drama in my family when my eldest brother's wife announced that, in keeping with her family tradition, her first-born son's name had to start with the first initial of her dead father's name - "I". Isidore, Ike, Ignatius,etc. all were voted down. I would have gone for Ian. Anyway, they named him Brendan.

In the Deptford Trilogy, Robertson Davies goes into great detail about the significance of name changes in one's life. I will have to look it up. It rang true with me given that at the age of five I refused to answer to Mary Lou. I was Mary or nothing. Sinclair was actually supposed to be my middle name but at the last minute it was changed to Louise. I lost "Lou" and eventually became SINS. Fitting.