What was Big Willy Shakes going for?
We told you Juliet was smart. She'll pretty much make herself believe anything if it means she and Romeo could be together. But she does have a point. The names that we call things are just randomly assigned by, well, us. Just because people named something a billion years ago doesn't mean that's what it is.
Why can't we call a horse, a pencil? Or a pencil a horse for that matter? Names are just arbitrary, so we shouldn't read into them so much. And she's right. Names are random. There is no reason a horse should be called that initially. But the problem with this kind of reasoning is that over time, names do mean something.
If you go around saying "Oh, look at how fast that pencil gallops" (when you really mean a horse), then everyone will think you've lost it. Names might not mean anything in the beginning, but over time, they take on meaning. And that meaning sticks.
And that's just with objects. It gets a whole lot stickier with people. A name is super important to someone's identity. What's the first thing you do when you meet a new person? You tell them your name. (We're guessing.) That's because that's what you're called and in a way, it's who you are.
Now we suppose you could tell people something about yourself before saying your name, but we all know that's not what people expect. Just say we met someone and we said, "Hi, we're Shmoop." And they said, "Hi, I'm a popcorn eater." As cool as that would be, it would be, um, weird.
So the answer to the question, "what's in a name?" is this: a lot. A whole lot.