The Names That Stayed

Some people keep the same name their whole lives.

It fits on diplomas.
It moves from desk to desk.
It appears on invitations to weddings that don’t last and resumes for jobs that do.

From the outside, it looks like a straight line.

Inside, things change anyway.

They leave relationships without renaming themselves.
They outgrow beliefs without announcing it.
They become different people slowly enough that no one asks what happened.

The name stays still.
So the movement underneath doesn’t draw attention.

Other lives shift more visibly.

The name moves too.

It appears briefly, then disappears.
Another arrives, stays for a while, then loosens.
Each one fits the moment it belongs to.

From the outside, it looks inconsistent.
Like something is being searched for.
Like nothing has settled.

But the movement underneath is not different.

Only the marker changed.

A name makes change legible.
Keeping one makes it quiet.

Neither tells the truth of a life.
They just frame it differently.

Continuity isn’t created by holding still.
And change isn’t created by letting go.

Both have always been happening.

The difference is what gets noticed.