The Significance of Your Name

***This article contains spoilers***

One of the most beautiful and heartwarming scenes in Makoto Shinkai's animated film Your Name is when Mitsuha falls down and is unable to remember the name of the boy she loves, Taki. But before that, Taki did write his name on her palm, though she was unable to do the same to his hand as they were torn apart through space and time.

But when she opens her hand, she is shocked speechless and cannot stop the tears which come gushing forth from her eyes.

'I love you,' she reads instead of his name.

When I saw it, I cried along with her. It was a stupid thing for him to do, but somehow I didn't care.  Maybe cause it was true. He loved her. And I loved that he loved her.

It has been many years since I first saw the scene. That 'I love you' still haunts me from time to time. And I think I finally figured out why.

In the Bible, God meets Moses in a burning bush. When Moses asks God what is his name so that Moses could differentiate Him from the other gods of the Egyptians, God answers, "I AM who I AM.  Tell them 'I AM' has sent you.'

The Prince of Egypt

He didn't give a name that talked of His attributes. He didn't call himself the most powerful God, the most beautiful God, or the most-high God. He says: I AM who I AM.

With these words, God reveals His entirety. He IS. To be God is to Be. Being itself.

And I feel Taki does something similar. He did not write Taki because it didn't express the fullness of who he was, or who he has become.

"What is your name?" Mitsuha asks.

"My name is I love you," Taki answers.

This is who he is. He loves Mitsuha.

And according to the director, do you know what Mitsuha would have written in Taki's hand?

I love you.