“I’ve been called many names like perfectionist, difficult and obsessive. I think it takes obsession, takes searching for the details for any artist to be good”
– Barbra Streisand

I was inspired to write this post when I came across a recent blog post written by Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal entitled The name Change Dilemma.   With the wedding season upon us women are most certainly wondering should I or shouldn’t I? Change their name that is.  In Sue’s article she mentions a Dutch study in 2010 which revealed that women who took their husband’s new name were perceived as more caring, dependent and emotional, while those who kept their maiden name were perceived as more independent, strong, less emotional and more ambitious. Let me help you make a decision based on a numerology perspective.

The meaning of your birth name – In numerology, your full name at birth reveals the person you are and the characteristics of you walking your path throughout your life. Your name was selected for you by your parents. It is an expression of your persona. Each letter is assigned a number and when you add them all up, they are reduced to a single digit number which is known as your Destiny number. This number is what you must accomplish in this lifetime and reveals your talents, abilities and characteristics – including your divinities and foibles. We are not perfect and so the positive attributes mixed with the negative aspects of the name you were given combine to make you human. It’s not just who you are, but it is also how you use the fundamental positive and negative qualities of your name number that make the difference. Every name at birth contains a Divine Command and a Divine promise of opportunity that, at the same time, demands a promise from everyone to keep faith with the purpose written on the scroll of your Destiny. Your birth name tells a story. All other names, nicknames, changes of names, signatures, or married names are but channels through which the Destiny is worked out and expressed. This is why I read the birth name to read your true life story. All other names support, or possibly detract from its fulfillment.

Name changes –  While the birth name shares the top slot along with one’s date of birth as the two most important factors in modern numerology, the fact is that most people change their name at some point in time. The name changes you may use in your life may include nicknames you may go by for a lifetime or for a while, a shortened version of your birth name, a married name or a professional name you adopt to help your acting or writing career. Each different name that we choose sends out its own meaning and has its own vibration that it resonates to. If you must, or even want to change your name, try to choose a name already in your family, and connected to your lineage. This makes the new name easier to assimilate into your personality. When you change your name for personal or professional reasons, this is truly how you see or express yourself walking your path in the now. The changed name reflects what is called a Expression Number or a Power Name Number and is minor compared to your full birth

BARBRA STREISAND
Barbra Streisand is a perfect example to use because she modified her name slightly at age 18 from Barbara to Barbra omitting the letter A keeping her family name and thus, is still connected to her linage.

Born Barbara Joan Streisand  on April 24, 1942, the top numbers from left to right (soul, personality, destiny, life path) are her birth name numbers and the numbers on the bottom reflect her current name as Barbra Streisand. The red indicates her Destiny  number on top row and her current expression number as 7 on the bottom row.

Birth Name:    7 – 5 – 3 – 8
Power Name:  8 – 8 – 7 – 8

Barbara was born with a 3 Destiny number which is a vibration that shows great self-expression. She was most definitely blessed with imagination and creativity. It’s the number of the artist and she most certainly is very creative and won an oscar nomination in 1969.

As Barbra Streisand – When she changed her name, this gave her an Expression Power Name Number of 7 which is layered over her 3 birth destiny number. So she added an element of mystery to her persona because it intensifies her 7 soul number, which means secretly she likes to be alone and contemplate a lot. When you hear her speak in public, she seems shy and unassuming and that’s because 7’s are very, very private and need a lot of space and alone time for contemplation and meditation. This was very obvious in her 1969 Oscar acceptance speech. Now when she changed her name, she created a 3 -7 challenge. As a 3 Destiny, she loves social contact and to be on the go, but with an Expression/Power Name Number of 7, she intensified the need for contemplation, analysis (over-analysis), meditation and spirituality. With this 3-7 she most likely always feels some tension or is uneasy with herself unless she bridges this gap which requires a bridge number. Hers is 4. I’ll discuss bridge numbers in another article. She also intensified the 8 vibration three times in her current name – which is not an easy vibration to live up to. It adds an element of too much energy and ambition, demanding recognition, bossy, impatience and forcefulness. Though she has few illusions in life. She sees and knows the truth about herself. The 8 has a tendency to tell the truth – but a little too bluntly and Barbra is prone to this proclivity. This is akin to a Dr. with a bad bedside manner.

Barbra Streisand as Barbra Brolin
Barbra Streisand is undoubtedly very smart and is also into numerology and other metaphysical disciplines. She went on Larry King several months ago and spoke about how she uses numerology in her life, so she knows full well how name changes can change your vibration even with the simplest change as she did by omitting the letter A in her birth name. I’m not sure if she did this with numerology in mind. However, the important thing is that she did not take the last name of her current husband James Brolin. I calculated this name change and if she had done so, this would have changed her Expression/Power Name number to the karmic debt number of 13/4. Karmic debt numbers are very difficult vibrations to overcome and would have added a karmic debt ingredient making her life much more demanding, if not impossible for her to achieve what she had already achieved in her life. She would have been going backward. So in this case, it was fortunate that she kept her current professional name number vibration.

When people use names such as difficult, obsessive and perfectionist to describe Barbra, these are fundamental characteristics within her because her current Expression/Power Name number of 7, combined with her 7 birth Soul number inherently forces her to be more analytical in her approach to her life in all ways – professionally, personally and spiritually. When she used the word obsession to describe herself as an artist and that as an artist she was “…searching for the details for herself as an artist to be good…”  this was the perfect example of the 7 at work in her numerology chart.  She chose to completely and fully express herself as a 3-7 even if it hasn’t been easy for her and caused her to be more misunderstood, argumentative, independent and shrewd. It doesn’t matter if people have put a negative spin on her persona as long as they are not harming someone else and fulfill their destiny in a positive way – which Barbra has always done.

Should you change your name?
It depends. Sometimes the name is picked up and used without any knowledge of what vibrations are resulting. In other cases, stage names and pen names are well thought out and often credited with helping their owners achieve success.

Are you considering changing your name when you get marred?
Getting back to the 2010 Dutch survey that I mentioned in the beginning of this article, if you DID CHANGE YOUR NAME, are you the woman who is (A) caring, dependent and emotional when you took your husband’s name or are you the woman who is (B) dependent, less emotional and ambitious if you didn’t? Whether you are A or B is not relevant here – but somehow, how you are perceived when you do A or B is. Nurturing vs ambitious has nothing to do with the price of tea in china. What it’s really all about  is you  – you following your highest path and expressing the fullest you.

Professional Name vs Personal Name
For some women, changing their name to match their husbands’ name is a psychological thing – it makes women feel like they have fulfilled their destiny in some way when they get married – fulfilling some age-old status – that of a married woman. But then the woman gets divorced, and the pendulum swings back – and you want to be your old self again. A perfect example here is Maria Kennedy-Shriver. Thank God she never took the Arnold’s last name. I mean I can’t even spell it without looking it up. She was and always will be Maria Kennedy-Shriver. With the recent news of her split from Arnold, she will most certainly take back her own name and vibrate once again to her birth roots and what she was born to do or live up to in her lifetime.

When in doubt – hyphenate.
Let the numbers with a name change work for you – not against you. If you just have to take your husband’s new name, I suggest you hyphenate your name incorporating your old/professional name as your new middle name. That way, aspects of you are still in the equation.

Thinking about changing your name? Before you do, consult with Master Numerologist and Intuitive Kathleen Lamoureux. Click on the “Changing Your Name” link in the menu bar to book a reading.