ORIGIN OF "THE JAMES"

I've always thought that names were like clothes...you put some on for a while and they fit, but you eventually grow out of them. I also have never understood why people are named at birth, before their personality is known, or before they have "earned" a name from deeds done. I remember reading that Uncas, from Fenimore Cooper's Last of the Mohicans, was waiting to earn a name, and Uncas was what they were all called before this right of passage. I agree with that whole system, and it might be that this (the whole absence of "rights of passage" in our culture) is why so many young people don't understand how they should act. You can drive at 16, watched adult films at 17, vote, fight & die for your country at 18, but you can drink alcohol at 21...all of this seems like mixed signals to me. You should clearly know when childhood ends, and adulthood begins...and a name that is earned is one ancient way to symbolize this. While I also believe that I have created myself, in all ways except biologically, "The James" was given to me by my friend, Craig Zablo. I like that it makes me sound like an entity or presence other than human, and with a certain significance...like Batman. I have gone by other names before, some great and others not so much, but this one suits for now.