Article What’s In a Name? Name Giving, Identity, and Script Formation Jaroslaw Jagiela and Dorota G˛ ebu´ s Abstract This article deals with the significance of a person’s name in relation to his or her life script and is focused specifically on Polish culture and context. A survey of 90 university students ages 21-23 revealed that most of them believe that their names were chosen in a purposeful manner, and they have a positive attitude toward those names. The findings also indicated that when survey participants were addressed by their parents, mothers used diminutives more often than fathers. In choosing their child’s first name, most parents wanted it to sound nice and be original, whereas the second name was often the same as that of an important family member. Interviews conducted with several students confirmed the existence of a link between names and various aspects of life script. Keywords life script, driver, biography, name giving, nickname, personality, identity, family, parent-child relations Receiving a name can be regarded as the onset of a person’s biography. It not only symbolizes the beginning of human existence but also the start of a specific life program. Naming a child signifies the birth of his or her identity but is also a sign of the individual’s life script. Eric Berne (1972) drew attention to this fact when he wrote, ‘‘There is no doubt that in many cases given names, short names, and nicknames, or whatever praenomen is bestowed or inflicted on the innocent newborn, is a clear indication of where his parents want him to go’’ (p. 78). Berne (1972) listed four ways in which a name can be connected with a script (pp. 78-79). First, a name can be given purposefully, which means that parents choose it with a certain clear intention that obliges a child to fulfill it (e.g., naming a child after a deceased family member, a celebrity, a famous person, a hero, etc.). Second, picking a name by accident or randomly may mean that, when circumstances change (e.g, after moving to another country or cultural environment), the name may have certain consequences for its bearer. Third, a name might be given inadvertently or even recklessly (e.g., a humiliating name), and it might stick to and perhaps lead to ridicule of its bearer. Fourth, a name might be chosen in a way that Berne termed ‘‘unavoidable’’ in the sense that parents feel they have no choice in the matter (e.g., giving a name after a particular ancestor in every Corresponding Author: Jaroslaw Jagiela, ul. Waszyngtona 4/8, 42-200 Cz˛ estochowa, Poland. Email: yarko1@go2.pl Transactional Analysis Journal 2015, Vol. 45(3) 217-227 ª International Transactional Analysis Association, 2015 Reprints and permission: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0362153715597721 ta.sagepub.com