“What’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet.”(「名字有啥意思？玫瑰叫什麼也是一樣的香。」)這是莎士比亞Romeo and Juliet中的名句。
“What’s in a name?”這句話的意思是︰what someone or something is called or labeled is arbitrary compared to their intrinsic quality。 Intrinsic，解本質的、內在的。人和事物，叫什麼都可以，本質才最重要。
但名字真的不打緊嗎？為什麼又會說「不怕生壞命，最怕取壞名」？無論如何，早前大家討論得最熱鬧的，也是個名字問題，又或可說是Archie Harrison這個名字的問題。
以前在互聯網搜尋Archie，先出現的搜索結果應該是Archie Comics。在美國流行了幾代，以大男孩Archie做主角的漫畫書。但今天最優先列出的，當然是英國皇室最新成員，Duke and Duchess of Sussex Prince Harry和Meghan Markle所生的小王子。
小王子未改名前，英國傳媒稱他為Baby Sussex。 Archie Harrison名字出爐後，大家就興高采烈地，你一言、我一語地大做文章。首先，英國皇室專家立即指出，Archie或Harrison都不是英國皇室傳統常見的名字。這當然令下注於Arthur、Edward或Philip的賭客大跌眼鏡。
只看現在
Archie和Harrison背後有什麼玄機？ Majesty皇家雜誌的執行編輯Joe Little就說：
Archie means “genuine(真誠的)”, “bold(大膽的)” or “brave(勇敢的)” – and is more popular in Britain than the US. It was originally a shortened form of Archibald but is now often used as a name on its own.
為什麼選這兩個名字？ Little就說：
It may well be it’s a name that Meghan is familiar(熟悉的) with and again that’s why they are using it. Archie has a British feel to it, whereas Harrison is more of an American name. The first Harrison that springs to mind is Harrison Ford. They have wanted to do something a little bit different, and they have done.
皇室觀察家就認為這反映了王子爸媽的心態和做事方式，CNN皇室記者Max Foster寫道：
Instead of a traditional royal name, they chose a name they loved. What they are very much doing is reflecting their generation. They are not looking to history, they are looking to now.
他們捨棄皇室傳統而選個自己喜歡的名字，正正反映了他們這一代，不看歷史，只看現在的態度。為什麼為小王子改Archie這個名？英國小報The Sun就說是這個原因：
Baby Archie was named after Meghan’s pet cat and a vintage(經典的、老牌的) US comic she used to collect, her pals believe. The future Duchess of Sussex used to tell friends about her beloved moggie(貓) Archie, who ended up fat after being constantly(不斷地) fed frozen grapes.
愛貓名字
Meghan的朋友說，其實是因為她以前養過一隻叫Archie的貓！
信不信由你，總之一個人當紅，自然引來很多流言。至於”what’s in a name?”，看來名字並不是真的那麼無關痛癢。要找名字背後的故事，可讀Patrick Foote的The Origin of Names, Words and Everything in Between。
