A friend who’s known me since I was 19 asked last week if I planned to start using my maiden name again. He says it is much cooler than the moniker I took on with my marriage, an opinion I share with him. When I divorced my kids were little and I thought it would be easier for them; one less thing to worry about explaining amid a sea of awkward conversations. For myself, I rationalized that I was at a point in my career where I was gaining traction in my networking with some name recognition. It felt like one more place to start over that I didn’t need to tackle at the time.
My immediate response to his question was “it’s just a name”. But I have to admit I’ve been contemplating a change lately. The journey to find myself has brought me back to square one. It just feels right that my name should be there too.
Our names are synonymous with our identity, defining who we are. Our parents labor over choosing the right combination of first and middle, with careful consideration around how the two will look, sound and feel when combined with the fixed surname. Our name is the first gift we are given, beyond the obvious gift of life.
As I chart out the different places I want to take myself this year in pursuit of my goals, I find I’ve become hooked on the alias. I brand my art with the three initials I was gifted at birth. My penname is my maiden name. I’ve chosen to author this blog under the name of the blog itself.
Why do we do this?
For the creatives out there, names are our personal brand, both identifiers and symbols. Choosing a pseudonym and combining it with graphics creates a vehicle to convey our mission, values and spirit. Windlass, for instance, was chosen for several reasons: It’s a nautical term fitting with my love for anything related to the sea. By definition in yourdictionary.com: a winch, esp. a simple one for lifting an anchor, a bucket in a well, etc. It speaks to internal power, and as a verb, it is the very act of lifting. I used two fonts in the logo to make the distinction between the “wind”, a zephyr that fuels us forward and the “lass”, for the girl in all of us. Punctuated by the imprint of a woman’s shoe which doubles as the sails of a boat and that anchor we can choose to lift at any time, it is the essence of my message around every woman’s power to drive her destiny.
There is a protective side to the a.k.a. that allows us to move forward while our ideas incubate and our confidence grows. It creates a safe place to test the waters. Our passions are the genuine and the raw in us. It’s scary to put them out there in a public way. An alias is a little bit like a suit of armor, shielding us from the hurt of rejection with an invisible degree of separation between us and our work.
Will my disguises eventually be uncovered? I hope so. Right now, though, they are a little shot of courage propelling me to get to where I want to go. I can be Superman and still walk around in Clark Kent’s humble body. Go ahead; embrace the liberation that comes with an alias. It might be the key to igniting your dreams.
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