This blog’s parent Ocarina and I have something in common. Can you guess? That’s right. We both have names that are cause for frequent comment. The first question anyone ever asks me when they meet me is, “is that your real name?” And the first question that anyone asks a person from Ocarina is “where did you get the name?” In essence, this is the same question in two different forms.
I almost always answer in the same way when asked about my name. I confirm the fact that my parents were indeed hippies (as the questioner already suspected) and that yes, I do live in California and always felt I belonged here. My full name actually means “Sunshine from the West,” something I have noted in one of my many blog entries on the concept known as “aptonyms.”
For the folks at Ocarina, the response is to explain that the name came from the founders, who decided that it sounded good. They also liked that it is a real word, rather than some kind of computer-generated mashup of random “Xs” and “Zs.” Most people are satisfied with this answer, though it does tend to be a bit of a conversation stopper. You want them to draw some connection between the clay flute that is the actual ocarina and the company mission, which is to reduce data through content aware compression and deduplication. But truth be told, there isn’t one.
As someone who spends a good deal of time tracking what’s being said on blogs, Twitter and other social media platforms, the name Ocarina poses a bit of a problem. The Ocarina of Time is a game within the extremely popular Nintendo series known as the “Legend of Zelda.” Hundreds of tweets are posted almost every day about this game, and numerous blog posts–all of which clog up my RSS feeds and Twitter search data. There’s even a video celebrating the music of the game, which has had over 65,000 views on YouTube for some unfathomable reason.
Here it is for all you Zelda freaks:
There is also an iPhone app called the “Ocarina” that allows you to play your own iPhone and share your music with others. Again, very popular–which leads me to wonder if there’s something about the name Ocarina that naturally resonates with people. What do you think? Are there any other associations you have with the name you’d like to share?
