What's in a name? That which we call a rose

By any other word would smell as sweet."

So names don't much matter, if William Shakespeare is to be believed. And there's no reason for us to do otherwise.

A name is an artificial and meaningless convention, as Juliet tells Romeo. She loves "Montague" the person, not Montague the name or the family. Romeo disowns his family name and pledges, according to Juliet's wish, to "deny (his) father." He agrees to be "baptized" anew only as Juliet's lover. This, as we know, is the central struggle and tragedy of the play.

Well, William Shakespeare should have been in China Shanghai to be precise, and five centuries later. For I'm sure he would have thought not twice, but many a time, before putting those immortal words into Juliet's mouth.

Juliet, like Romeo, was "clean and pure." But so are close to 4,000 people in Shanghai. At least, that's what their name suggests.

Shanghai is the city of Chen Jies. Chen is a popular surname in the commercial capital of China, as in the rest of the country. But official statistics show that 3,937 people in the "Pearl of the Orient" have combined that surname with the "trendy" character Jie, which means "clean and pure." That definitely is unique.

We can imagine how confused Juliet would have been to know there was not one, but thousands of Romeo Montagues. The Capulets, Juliet's family, would have had not one, but many Montague sons to deal with. And dare we say the tragedy would have become an overwhelming farce?

Before our valued readers start getting ideas, this is not to demean the single tragedy of the lovers Romeo and Juliet. The world has not yet been able to contradict Shakespeare, and I hope it will never be.

But language is a difficult subject. And here we are encountering more than that. Describing, defining or designating a person, place, thing or concept is a matter very complicated, to say the least. And if thousands of people share the same name, the confusion attains gargantuan proportions.

Instead of the sweet smell of a few roses, as is the wont of the flower of love, we have a whole garden, many gardens actually, competing for a place in the sun. But the "garden" that is Shanghai seems obsessed with the idea of "clean and pure."

What we forget (ignoring Shakespeare) is that a name doesn't make us what we are our actions do.

The Shakespearian tragedy has been striking, with regular frequency, and schools and banks seem to be suffering the most. But the Chen Jies have not been spared.

A local daily quoted one Chen Jie as saying that she keeps getting another woman's letters. Addressee Chen Jie works two floors above receiver Chen Jie's office.

Some other cities across the world may be encountering a similar problem. But it's highly unlikely that their problem is as bothersome as Shanghai's. For the port city's problem is not the Chen Jies alone. They have close competition from the Zhang Mins.

More than 3,750 people share that name. In fact, Zhang is Shanghai's most common surname, shared by 900,000 people.

All this may sound funny. But imagine the plight of the government and other institutions. Imagine having two or more kids with the same name in one class. Or imagine a bank or other business organization having dozens of customers with the same name.

Centuries of belief have moulded our habits. And even though we can choose from hundreds, if not thousands, of names, we prefer to stick to the few standard Chinese characters we think could make our children better human beings. When will we ever learn?

But there's a silver lining to this cloud. I discussed this name business with a few young colleagues before deciding to write on it. All of them, including a Chen and a Zhang, have decided not to name their children either Jie or Min.

Not a bad beginning, after all!