What's in a Name?

 1) In a paragraph, explore the meaning you find in  your name. It can be your first, your last, or even a nickname.  How does that name define you? Or does it?

    Christopher isn't really my favorite name. There is of course the minor piss off that the name belonged to the genocidal-ish Christopher Columbus, but I eventually got over that. Now, it's mostly that it so tied with Christianity (it has "Christ" in it), and I am an atheist. I do have to thank my parents for not naming me "Christian." Close call there. The christian name reminds me of the vlogbrother's video about names where Hank said something along the lines of "don't name your child after a character trait because they will inevitably choose that trait to rebel against you during their teenage years." The idea really expands to the idea that a name shouldn't have any meaning on its own because the child isn't defined, and it might be that they don't have anything to do with the meaning of the name.
   Christopher means Christ bearer, and has a strong affiliation with Saint Christopher. According to http://www.behindthename.com/name/christopher, the meaning of the name came before the legend, which was a literal interpretation after a figurative meaning of "bearing christ in one's heart." Upon reading the legend, I must admit that Saint Christopher is pretty cool. He went around trying to find and serve the strongest King. He saw a human king fear the devil, so he went to find the devil. A bandit or someone pretended to be the devil, but he avoided crosses out of fear, so he went to find Christ. He was told that he could serve Christ by fasting and praying, but that wasn't really his thing, so he was told he could help by carrying people across a dangerous river (He was like 7 foot 5 and strong). Anyway, after taking some people across, a child asked to be carried across. The kid was super heavy, and after Saint Christopher finally got him to the other side, he asked why the child was so heavy. It was because the child was Christ and had all the sins of the world on his shoulders, and that it was impressive that the Saint could carry them all. And that's why he is "Christ bearer." Yeah, pretty cool! I love how the dudes like "yeah, fasting isn't really my thing, is there something else I can do."
    Anyway, after all that, the name doesn't really define me. With all the connections "Christopher" has, especially to Christianity, I am "Christopher" and "Christopher" is me. (Which means that, when referring to me, it is not really a Christian name. Also, I'm sure that's from somewhere, but I can't remember where.) I have done my best to exclude any meaning gained by historical context that the name "Christopher" has when I use the name to identify myself (That was fairly convoluted). The only times when the name is uncomfortable is when I am uncomfortable with who I am (the name's denotation).
 (Just pretend that that was one paragraph)

2) Anna Quindlen, in her essay "The Name is Mine", remarks,"there are two me's, the me who is the individual and the me who is a part of a family of four..." To that same end, some say that Beowulf is a story of a dual ordeal: an external battle with vicious opponents and an equally important battle with human tendencies. Everyone experiences such moments of awareness.  In another paragraph or two, think about those times when you have been "two," and explore the dilemma posed by being an individual and, at the same time, a part of a larger whole.

    There are two me's. Me as a nerd and me as a part of the McDonald's community of Wakefield (Quite a title).  Micky D's is where I hang out after the bus drops me off at Wakefield High School. For the first year, I just worked on homework and art, but then I made friends. However, I never quite integrated into the group and we've actually distanced this year. At first I was just a nerd. I didn't talk to anyone and got so much work done. My identity was purely nerd me. Then, I built an identity as a part of the community. I talk with them a lot, but there are a couple of things from my nerd identity that keeps me from integrating fully into the community. First is that I'm from Millbrook and don't know all the people they're talking about. Second, I don't think I gossip that much, except about certain foreign natives and native foreigners. Anyway, mostly the issue is that I have hella homework and I do it. That means that I compromise my full identity as a McDonald's person by doing homework. Another issue is that I don't smoke, and much of the community does. I do cut back on some of my work to participate in the community. I dropped my homework to go walk through the woods with my buddies, and it was very fun. Now, with this senior workload, I do more homework than I used to and spend less time with my friends there. So, my identity as a nerd and a McDonald's friend poses dilemmas about how to spend my time at the restaurant.

<%-- (Ignore this text)
Honestly, I don't quite get the connection of Beowulf with the discussion of names and identities as an individual and a group, so if you would pardon me, I'm going to examine that part of the question for a bit. The battle with opponents is pretty clear. The battle with human tendencies, is that about what being human means. Like how Beowulf is, in the modern view, just as animalistic as Grendel is with his battle, using just brute force and not using tools or cunning, but in the battle with the dragon, he uses his sword and shield and is more knightly. Or whether humans go into battle alone or together? Is this a battle against human tendencies to form an independent less human path? Is Beowulf supposed to lose?... Okay, from  http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/5042.html, "Beowulf is constantly dealing with... internal battles caused by natural human tendencies of pride, greed, cowardice, betrayal, and self-concern, throughout his life." Honestly, does he really battle them? I feel like he just goes with him. He doesn't really battle internally against betrayal and cowardice. The men show it, but people... I am so done. Yeah, my response might not be that relevant to Beowulf. --%>