What's In a Name?

In Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, Juliet thinks of Romeo and speaks these now famous lines:
      'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
      Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
      What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,
      Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
      Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
      What's in a name? that which we call a rose
      By any other name would smell as sweet;
      So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
      Retain that dear perfection which he owes
      Without that title.

And probably the sentiment expressed is indeed true. Still, there is something about a name. Certain names, even certain words, just embody possibility--or lack thereof--in ways that other names and words never can. I think most often the musical components of their pronunciation spark their magic, although the meaning of some word parts can kindle magic as well.

During my childhood, my mother had moments when she would tell us--her four, five, and ultimately six children--"I'm running away to Timbuktu." After assuaging that momentary first fear that she really might leave us behind, I would think that Timbuktu sounds like place so strangely wonderful it might only reside in imagination. In fact, on one occasion I asked my mom if it was a real place, and she assured me it was, and although I didn't feel particularly assured in that instant to know that it was a real place that she could go, I decided that someday I would like to go there too...even if my mom never agreed to let me accompany her on any of her threatened departures! (Running away to Timbuktu was apparently a solo trip.)

Literature and maps have provisioned me with multiple place names on which to focus my rambles. How could there not be something amazing, memorable, or at least endearing about a place called Kekaha, Cashel, Todos Santos, Ashkelon, Kota Kinabalu, Dingle, Machu Picchu, Irrawaddy, Jaipur, Ngorongoro, Ercolano, Bangkok, Cordoba, Saipan, Fort Huachuca, Lisdoonvarna, Pondicherry, Alice Springs, Kinshasa, Langkawi, Tipperary, or Isle of Skye?  And what about Drehenthalerhof? I actually lived in that wee German village for seven years!

I have yet to set foot in Timbuktu, the first place name to initiate thoughts of ever wandering away from the homeland. But this year currently looks promising for Rangoon (now Yangon), Mandalay, and the Irrawaddy. A trip to Myanmar is on the horizon!