What’s in a name? "That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet." wrote the Bard in perhaps one of the earliest statements about branding. But would it? The answer is yes. And no.

 

My name is Alex Johnson. Alexandra Michalina Johnson, to be exact, but I have a long history of moniker morphing and am about to continue.

 

When I was born I was meant to be called Zofia. My parents had planned their family for a long time, had discussed and settled on girl/boy names in advance. However, day of my arrival, my Dad exuberant, exhausted and full of champagne at his first born he forgot girl name and went with boy name: Alexander. Actually, it was meant to be Aleksander (given my Polish roots) but we shouldn’t be too tough on the old guy. And so it was.