What's in a name?

          At the opening of the novel is a quote, "the fathers may soar/ and the children may know their names", which prepares the reader for names to be a meaningful motif in Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon. Many of the characters have biblical, family, or downright unusual names, both officially and as nicknames, which provide insight about each character. However, what is most notable about names in the novel is how people and places use them to claim and assign their own identity.
        Given as a derogatory nickname describing a childhood habit, the name Milkman is an example of how a name can define an identity. To others, he is not known as Macon Dead iii, that name is too reminiscent of his despised father; he is better described by others as Milkman. By adopting this name he is denying that which was given upon his family by the white people, and is carving out his own identity.
        Another example of a nickname that holds more meaning that an actual name is Not Doctor Street. The residents took much pride in the the fact that a doctor had come from their street, and when a notice was sent that the street was to be named something different, "not doctor street," the residents happily obliged. They claimed the street as their own by giving it a unique name, showing the power that a simple name can have in determining identity.