Your identity, your self

Every employer I’ve worked at since college has changed its identity at least once. Companies do this for a lot of reasons. Usually, it’s because of mergers and acquisitions. Or the old identity has gotten dated and no longer fits. At a couple of places where I worked, it was because of a lawsuit from another company that has the same or a similar name. At one company, we even had to change the metadata of source files. About a year later, the companies hashed out an agreement, and we had to change back to our previous name.

My current company recently changed its name to one that better fits what we do and where we want to go. This got me thinking: What does it mean to change your identity?

Companies aren’t the only ones that change their name. My alma mater was called Valley State College when it opened in 1958. Long before I went there, the school joined the California State University system and became California State University Northridge. The name reflects the school’s status as a community institute for higher learning where people can earn Bachelor’s and advanced degrees. My high school also changed its name when it became a charter school. It’s now Reseda Charter High School with magnet programs, and it goes from grades 6–12. It’s a much different place from when I went there in the 1970s.