Emily Cotten
Name: Emily Anne Cotten
Age: 20
Born: 1995, Massachusetts
Emily was the 3rd most popular male baby name in 1995, making up 1.2690% of female babies born in the US.
According to Social Security databases, 799 Emilys were born in Massachusetts in 1995.
Do you like your name?
"Yes. Emily is common, but it doesn’t sound common. Maybe because it doesn’t really rhyme with anything, and you don’t hear it in a lot of songs. It has a warm 'em' with the bright 'ily' on the end. It is a good combination of sounds. It means 'strong' in a Germanic language, so I like that."
Have you had any experiences in which the popularity of your name has either bothered or helped you?
"I never felt like it bothers me, but there’s definitely times. I feel like every Emily wears her name differently. I remember when I was a kid on a soccer team, I would always try to guard the other Emily, because we were both Emily and it would confuse her. But I wouldn’t say its even been like 'AW MAN! There’s another Emily!'"
Do you agree that society feels a "need for uniqueness"? Have you ever felt this?
"Yeah. I definitely agree. I think that a pretty normal human want is the want to be remembered and to contribute something. A lot of times, that contribution in people’s minds can only be valuable if its something that’s never been done before. And I think because of [my study of] music and writing, I am very concerned with telling a unique story and creating unique sounds. That may not necessarily be me being unique, but its my output. I want [it] to be different and for people to notice it. And I feel like the only time people will notice something is if it’s something completely different."
Collective identity, or "sameness", has been shown to be felt as strongly and be equally as powerful as uniqueness. Do you agree that sameness can be powerful? Have you ever felt it as such?
"Yeah. I think that people with shared interests naturally gravitate towards each other. Like the music school more or less... everyone [who has the same] major is pretty close, and there’s a sort of familial bond, even though we’ve only known these people for a year and a half. I feel like I can talk to anyone who has the same major as me or who is doing the same thing as I am. There’s the whole idea of safety in numbers. You’re allowed to make mistakes if the people around you have experienced similar things and made similar mistakes."
Does your name help instill in you a sense of uniqueness or sameness?
"I think because my name is typically anglo-saxon and, in not so many words, a 'white name', I don’t have to deal with a lot of differences. Like sounding different and being different, because people picture a white girl. But I’m sure if I had a name that was from a different country, or was more 'representational' of a different ethnic group, then I would probably feel differently."
Which do you think is more important, uniqueness or sameness?
"I don’t think there’s an answer to that question. I think it’s both. I think different situations require you to be different things. There are times when the best thing to do is to fall back into a group, and there are times when the best thing to do is to step forward and do something unique. But I don’t think there’s ever going to be someone who’s ever one thing, who’s just the same as everyone else or is just different. I don’t think that’s possible. I have yet to see it, anyway."
