Why WOW?

When introducing yourself in American Sign Language (ASL), you will ‘fingerspell’ each letter of your first and last name.

EX: N-I-C-O-L-E … L-A-M-M-E-R-S

In Deaf Culture, a ‘Sign Name’ / ‘Name Sign’ is a unique sign given to represent a person – just as any other name identifies a person.  Being named is a honor – you have been accepted into / by the Deaf Community.

Having a single sign to represent a person makes conversation flow with much more ease. Consider if every time you wanted to tell a story about your friend you had to say: A:”You know, my friend, J-O-N-N-Y?” B: ” The one with red hair?” A: “Yes, that one. He…” With a Sign Name the conversation changes to: “My friend, J, he…”
The Sign Name clearly identifies the person and allows for the conversation to truly be about the topic and not an identity guessing game.

Sign Names are often broken into two groups: descriptive and arbitrary.
Descriptive Sign Names are those that show some noticeable characteristic about the individual – either physical or in personality.
Arbitrary Sign Names are those that are initialized with the individual’s first name and then placed somewhere on the body . EX: a ‘K’ over the heart for Krystal.

My name is a little different…

“Wow”

My Deaf friends Mary and Kelsey named me – I cannot tell you who came up with the name first – but I can tell you it has stuck (going on 7+ years). At first, I balked the name…but now, I would not change it for anything.

There is not a specific sign for the word ‘wow’ – therefore, my name is ‘fingerspelled,’ ‘W-O-W.’ The two letters used in the word have begun to morph into their own sign – it is more of a hand shape now, than actually spelling. My students who voice call me “Mrs. L” in English, while signing “W-O-W.”

My first response to information / a story / a situation is often to say: “Wow..” or “WOW!!”
And…Mary says that if anyone were to hear my life story, their only response would be ‘wow…’.

So…
That is why, Wow.

FYI
Some rules are attached to Sign Names:
1. You cannot / are not to name yourself.
2. You are named by someone who is Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing (i.e. someone in the Culture).
3. Your name is agreed upon by more than one member of the Community.