Why do we name things?

My real name is Zou Ji En (邹吉恩）and my given name is Gene Zou, an Anglosaxon name. My father’s name is Min Zou and his given name is Bill Zou. My mother’s name is Li Ming Chang and her given name is Lisa Chang. Is your name just as unique and uncommon as my name? The most common Anglosaxon names I have heard given to Asian males are:
— Kevin
— Daniel/Danny/Dan
— Eugene
— Phillip/Phil
— Peter/Pete
— Michael/Mike
— Nicholas/Nick/Nickie
— Chris/Christopher
— Tim/Timothy/Timmy
— Jeff/Jeffery
— Will/William/Willy
— John/Jon/Jonathan/Johnathan/Johnny
— Andy/Andrew
— Marcus
— Wayne
— Tony
— Ryan
— Vincent
— Sam/Samuel
- Adrian
- Ricky/Rick
— Eric
— Ben/Benny/Benjanim
— Matt/Matthew
— Martin
— James
— Richard/Rich/Dick
— Francis
— Justin
— Nathan
— Kelvin/Calvin
— Oscar
— Steve/Steven
— Ian
— Brian
On the other hand, the most common Anglosaxon names I have heard given to Asian females are:
— Alice/Alicia
— Janny/Jenny/Jen/Jennifer
— Emily
— Amy
— Natalie
— Anna/Anne/Ann/Annie
— Lisa
— Vivian/Vivien
— Sara/Sarah
— Victoria/Vicky
— Jasmine
— Chris/Christine/Christina/Christy
— Sylvia
- Karen
- Cindy / Sindy
— Jess/Jessica/Jessie
— Elizabeth/Ellie
— Ivy
— Kim/Kimberley
— Anita
— Lucy/Lucie
— Katie/Kate
— Katherine/Catherine/Kathy/Cathy
— Rachel/Rachael
— Mimi
— Lily
— Stephanie/Steph
— Vicky/Vicki
— Michelle
— Angela
— Tina
— Nicole
— Nikki/Nicky/Nikkie
— Sue
If you know any other common given names given to Asians, feel free to add it in the comment section.

Not only we name people, we also name objects around us big and small, fast and slow, high and low, long and short, colourful or colourless. We also name concepts, entities, principles based on its:
— Function
— Historical origins
— Significance to society
— Discovery by pure coincidence or accident
— Impact on the human body
— Discoverer e.g. Nobelium, Francium
— Structure
— Regions of land
— Purpose
— Composition
— Proposer
— Artificial tastes
— Odours
— Its location when it was first discovered
— Perception by animals and humans
— Metaphor, Gags, Similes and Analogies
— Geographical location
— Role in society
— Ancient languages
— Visual description
This include ships, automobiles, public transportation, machines, dolls, reading material, houses, buildings, rooms, molecules/drugs/toxins, sections of DNA (genes), proteins, body parts, food, masterpieces/artworks, electronics, viruses/pathogens/bacteria, diseases, disorders, stadiums, stations, shops, murals, wildlife, flora and fauna, herbs and spices, suburbs, cities, states, provinces, landmarks, temples/mosques, roads, bridges, railway lines, organisations, departments, fashion, toiletries, waterways, entertainment (tv shows, soaps, movies), kitchenware and industries.

http://howmanyofme.com/search/
Although my name is very rare, I was curious to find out whether there are other, if any, Gene Zou(s) out there on Earth right now. So I checked out a website in the link above to find out. Right now in the USA alone, there are 149,309 people named "Gene" with 95% of them being male. I guess the other 5% have female variant names like Jean and Eugenia. There are 2,216 people with the surname "Zou". To my surprise there is actually 1 person right now living in the USA who shares the exact same name as me. I wish I could meet this other "Gene Zou" and see whether we are genetic copies of the same personality, intelligence, social bonding and attitude.

It’s understandable that everyone including myself have trouble remembering all these names. Things can get awkward if we forget their name after numerous interactions. But why do we tend to forget names? Apparently these names don’t provide a clear indication or a signpost that distinguishes one person from another. Sometimes facial recognition doesn’t help either because of the scenario of identical twins, lookalikes and doppelgängers. The fact that everyone around me are not too dissimilar in terms of appearance, personality, attitude and fashion sense, it can often discombobulate me. I, for one, personally met 4 Ivy Nguyens and it was an absolute nightmare trying to distinguish all 4 of them. I cannot rely on one indicator but several indicators to help me determine who they are and this could take me a few seconds of awkward silence to distinguish each and every one of them. Based on the information my brain is feeding me through my senses, I have to look into their facial appearance for distinct features like a mole, dimples or wrinkles, the shape and juxtaposition of their facial features, their body height, the schools they attended, their daily fashion choices, their personality, the friends they often hang out with, their interests, their voices, their laughs, the train line they often ride home, any memorable moments they experienced and their social status. It’s evident why my brain is large and hurting all the time when I meet someone new. My biggest weakness is, in fact, forgetting names, more often boys than girls and it seems that Asian parents are following each other’s baby naming bandwagon. Combined with their choice of spectacles, the schools they went to, the personality they have and their outstanding academic achievements, it’s no wonder I often get Asian guys’ names mixed up virtually all the time. This is why I have to ask deep, philosophical questions to get their opinions and values on the world’s current affairs and issues to date.

Nowadays we tend to give nicknames to help us distinguish and remember our friends, objects, animals like dogs & horses, and places making it easy on the tongue when calling them out. For example, the London Underground is nicknamed "The Tube". People give me original but uncreative nicknames like Genenonator, Genius, Genetics, MasterSlayer, KungFu Panda. Sportsmen especially cricketers are bound to have nicknames and funnily enough I can recall many of their nicknames;
-- Mark Taylor (Tubs)
-- Michael Slater(Slats)
-- Mark Waugh (Junior)
-- Andrew Symonds (Roy)
-- Matthew Hayden (Haydos)
-- Adam Gilchrist (Gilly / Churchie)
-- Brett Lee (Binga)
-- Ricky Ponting (Punter)
-- Michael Hussey (Mr. Cricket)
-- Michael Clarke (Pup)
-- Steve Smith (Smudge)
-- Josh Hazlewood(Hoff)
-- Shaun Tait (The Wild Thing)
-- Sachin Tendulkar (The Little Master)
-- Rahul Dravid (The Wall)
-- Shahid Afridi (Boom Boom)
-- Shoaib Akhtar (The Rawalpindi Express)
-- Glenn McGrath (Pigeon)
-- Phil Taylor (The Power)
-- Ray Warren (Rabbits)
-- Phil Gould (Gus)
-- Brad Fittler (Freddie)
-- Paul Vautin (Fatty)
-- Andrew Flintoff (Freddie)
-- Darryl Brohman (The Big Marn)
-- Nathan Lyon (Garry / GOAT)
-- Sam Thaiday (Slammin' Sam)
-- Paul Gallen (G-Train)
-- Billy Slater (Billy The Kid)
-- Dave Taylor (Coal Train)
Artists, DJs, bands and rappers form their own names like Iggy Azalea, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Pitbull, Flo Rida, The Proclaimers, The Who, 50Cent, Destiny's Child, Hardwell, Avicii, NERVO, Queen, Kings of Leon, Finger Eleven, Maroon 5, Green Day, Nirvana, Nickelback, ACDC and Gun N'Roses.
How many nicknames of your friends, family members, peers, athletes and celebrities can you remember?

-- Technically, giving a nickname is substituting a fitting name of a familiar person or thing as a sign of affection or ridicule and symbol of acceptance into your group.
-- A moniker also means a nickname or personal name, but it distinguishes personal names from nicknames that became proper names out of former nicknames. Examples include Bob & Rob (variants of Robert), Mike & Mickey & Mikey (variants of Michael), Rich & Richie & Dick (variants of Richard).
-- A hypocoristic name refers to a nickname of affection between those in love or with a close emotional bond, reminiscent of terms of endearment. E.g. my boo, this one, this b**ch, this lil' sh*t, my lovely, bae/babe/baby, cutie, beautiful, sweetie/sweetheart and honey.
-- A diminutive name refers to nicknames that convey smallness, regarding affection or familiarity, or contempt. These are mostly used when we're talking to little children or when we're expressing tenderness and intimacy to an adult.
-- A pseudonym or alias is a name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which can differ from their original identity or true name (Orthonym). Examples include stage names (actors, musicians and performers), usernames, ring names, pen names, nicknames, superhero identities, code names, gamer identities, and regnal names of emperors, popes and other monarchs.

I thought a person centuries ago named Nick invented the word "nickname" after himself but I found out this is not the case. The word "nickname" originated as the Latin word ekename, meaning "additional name", was believed to be first used as early as 1303. It derived from the Old English phrase eaca "an increase" related to eacian "to increase". By the 15th century, a misdivision of the syllables of the phrase "ekename" gradually led to its reanalysis as a "nekename". It is not known who coined the first ever nickname amongst the human population but it is known that people in ancient tribes and communities like the Vikings used nicknames. In Old Norse language, the Vikings had heiti, viðrnefni, or kenningarnöfn. You can read more about nicknames and their use in different societies and cultures via the link below.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickname

No one seems to know why we instinctively name everything we interact and witness in our surroundings. Some say it is evidence of development of human intellect naturally selected by evolution rather than psychological development. Some say giving something an identity is an affectionate and honourable act, labelling our close interpersonal connection with it in a fun and exciting manner. Scientists say giving names stimulates development of novel neural pathways in the brain’s limbic system especially in the Amygdala, which is a sign of increasing intelligence. But is there a limit to how dense our memory capacity can we generate in our brains? The number of neurons and neural pathways we can generate in our brains and periphery is always finite, hence it’s safe to say that the answer is not infinity. However the rate of which we make new neurons in the form of learning is infinite throughout our lifetime until we die.

Our modern human language along with its numerous linguistic roots and neighbours, the language that you and I speak every day has the flexibility and capability to name and label everything we interact on a daily basis or in one-off situations. I don’t know if animal language can enable animals to label objects, fellow creatures of the contrasting and identical species and images but I won’t be surprised if it has the linguistic flexibility to do so. The amazing thing about our language is how we borrowed words from other languages that are either extinct or rarely spoken nowadays like Latin, Hebrew, Greek and Germanic. But then how did these ancient languages came to be? When did we shift from cave drawings, and sign language to speech intonation? How does the human brain have this ability to invent words by putting random syllables together that its vocals can generate and count that as a new language? How is a language born? Evolution of the human brain is certainly a complex question which no one seems to understand. I will try to answer this question in another post.

Say Cheese!

Above is the first ever photograph entitled “View from the Window at Le Gras” was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 from an upstairs window of his estate at Le Gras in the Burgundy region of France. It was made on a polished sheet of pewter and the light-sensitive coating of bitumen, dissolved in lavender oil which was allowed to dry before use. In 1838, Niépce also took this picture featuring a human for the first time entitled “Boulevard Du Temple”. Although this picture does not illustrate exactly what he saw because light exposure was over 10 minutes and the city traffic was moving too quickly to be captured clearly, however on the bottom left corner you can see a man getting his boots polished long enough by what looks to be another man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_camera
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camera_obscura
These photographs were not possible without this handy device called a “camera". Along with photography, the camera was born as the camera obscura. It is Latin for “dark room” and it describes the natural optical phenomenon that occurs when an image of a scene at the other side of a screen is projected through a small hole and creating an inverted image on a surface opposite to the opening. Here’s a simple diagram that shows how an image is projected.

Let’s say I put a convex lens in front of an object like a chair. I place it outside its focal length (f). You trace one light ray horizontally perpendicular to the lens, through it and then refract towards the focal point on the other side. You then trace another light ray through the centre of the lens but this time you don’t change its trajectory after passing through it. Once both of your light rays intersect at any point, it will mark the position of the image but the image or chair will be upside down or inverted. This is called a "real image”. In this scenario the real image is larger than the object because the object is located between f and 2f away from the lens. If the object was placed further away from the lens (>2f), the image would be positioned closer than 2f and be smaller than the object. Below is a formula that calculates the position of the image depending on the object’s position from the lens whether it is within or beyond the lens’ focal length.

f = Focal Length — Positive for a convex lens, Negative for a concave lens
u = Distance from the object to the lens
v = Distance from the lens to the image

Now let’s change the lens to a concave lens. The position of our chair hasn’t changed (which is outside the focal length between f and 2f). Repeat the same steps when tracing light rays. But this time the ray hitting the lens perpendicularly retracts outwards rather than inwards. Now retrace that line as a broken line back towards the focal length. Wherever the broken line intersects the second light ray which runs through the centre of the lens, this marks the position of our image. You notice our image (or chair) is upright and shrunken. This is called a “virtual image”. Using the same formula above, the focal length is negative, hence the solution for the distance of the virtual image will also be negative. You can also create virtual images using convex lens when you place the object inside its focal length but it will be upright and enlarged and behind the object.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_photography
Ever since Niépce’s first ever photograph was taken, we have approximately taken over 3.5 trillion photos and that number will keep growing. We have taken more pictures in the space of 2 minutes than all the photos taken in the 1800s. It’s estimated than about 140 million photos and counting are uploaded to Facebook and over 1.8 billion photos are uploaded to all sorts of social media. I understand that photography is a trending technology that captures the monumental occasions of our adventures like travelling to foreign countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America, meeting celebrities on the red carpet, travelling with friends and family and tasting different cuisines in different cafes and restaurants across the globe. What I find intriguing is why do we tend to take an enormously finite amount of photos on our phone or camera and then upload every single of them onto social media? I thought photos captured historical moments and documented precious memories which were the main aims in the beginning of photography. The word ‘photography’ comes from the Greek φως(phos) meaning “light”, and γραφή(graphê), meaning “drawing, writing”, which together mean “drawing with light”. Since Niépce’s death in 1833, his partner Louis Daguerre ensured the development of photography would continue on experimenting different light-sensitive chemicals from Silver Chloride (AgCl) to Silver-plated sheet of copper coated with Silver Iodide (AgI) along with Iodine vapour. By 1837, Daguerre created the first practical photographic process which he named after himself the “daguerrotype”. In 1840, Henry Fox Talbot perfected a different photographic process called the Calotype. Although it used the same principle of chemical development of a faint or invincible “latent” image that reduced exposure time to a few minutes, the paper used had a coating of Silver Iodide. In 1861 the first colourful photograph was taken by Thomas Sutton that was used in a lecture by Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. It was a set of 3 black-and-white photographs taken through red,green and blue colour filters and was shown to be superimposed using 3 projectors of similar filters.

For those who don't know what a photo filter is, it's an accessory your camera uses as optical filter placed in front of the lens. They modify the image being taken by altering the relative brightness of different colours, colour balance, absorbing certain wavelengths of light necessitating a longer exposure, and absorbing UV (Ultraviolet) light which can damage to the camera lens. You can read more about photo filters via this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photographic_filter. Photographic apps like Instagram, WeChat, LINE, and Vsco now use built-in filters with each app using around 20 different filters. Here is a link from the Huffington Post listing every Instagram filter according to its popular use: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/instagram-filters-ranked_n_5127006. Because these filters removes imperfections and enhances the relevant features of the photograph, it's no wonder girls endorses filters with every photo or selfie they post online. Why do people especially girls, don't have the nonchalance to post unfiltered, naturally real photos? Are they worried about the incoming comments or the amount of likes their photo may receive? If there is an imperfection, why not retake the photo? It's possible their time spent on photography is limited and they are attempting to match the vision of the perfect shot embedded in their minds. It's obvious photography has a huge impact on our psyche and the reasons for this sort of behaviour are quite complex and requires more than just philosophical literature to fully understand this which I'll try to discuss in another post.

A photographer's set including aperture rings, lenses and tripod

Nowadays in this modern society people can't seem to live without the camera whether it be a DSLR or a square, selfie phone camera or polaroid camera. We have complicated the way we take photographs by identifying the correct angle, sufficient lighting, how to maximise sexiness, the correct distance between the person and the photographer, appropriate filters that fit the theme and time of upload and a colourful thematic background to match the caption to accompany the final masterpiece. Almost every single of us are virtually professional photographers irrespective of our qualifications and experience. Depending on the type of phone and portable device you have, fixing the aperture and clearing the foreground is just as simple as a single tap on the screen. It’s incredible how far technology has simplified the way we record and document our lifestyles with the utmost clarity. I notice that humans especially females have endorsed photography much more than men do. If you took a peak at their photo albums, you will notice it includes countless selfies featuring themselves with their faces and occasionally outlines of their clavicles and cleavage, makeup, snapchat filters, funny facial expressions like the sexy pout or sticking out the tongue. I suspect these girls have low self-esteem and are emotionally and easily influenced by advertisers, their girl friends and other peers to spend plenty on accessories and makeup sets. I also feel girls of this persona may elicit a narcissistic, misogynist, and pessimistic personality where they believe they are just as glamorous and sexy as Jennifer Hawkins or Kim Kardashian and overly react to other female peers who attempt to undermine their selfish and powerful position. People especially girls these days have this urge to attend as many events, and different restaurants and cafes and using photography as proof of their attendance, and it seems they use this social opportunities to update their social media and collect their wages in the form of likes for their effort. Some people say it’s a hobby or a sign of exploration which is plausible but I feel this is more than just sharing a photo themselves to the world which I’ll discuss in further detail in another post.