If nothing else, names are contextual elements to our lives.
What’s in a name? That’s an interesting question in its own right. A name can have connotations; invoke or invite reactions. There haven’t been many people named Adolf in Britain after the Second World War. For me, anyone called Julie is probably chubby – and that’s a left-over from primary school
Of course, there’s the question of the consequences of the associations that a name might have. Does it matter that that’s how I default-respond to hearing the name Julie. I don’t act in the light of it – I don’t snub anyone called Julie. Does it matter that the name Adolf fell out of fashion.
And don’t even get started on pronunciations!
I guess any consequences will always be a variable. You might baulk at someone or something irrationally, solely because of their name, and that might be an insurmountable barrier.
And, anyway, that’s all a context for ‘Berkshire’’ – however you might want to pronounce it. I admit I’d not given the county’s name much thought before, but I found the YouTube clip on its origins that a good friend pointed me towards was a good use of about nine minutes of my time.
