What is the issue of names in Romeo and Juliet? How can I explain it clearly?

The
issue with names in 's is not so much with the names themselves, but with
what the names represent.

The Capulets ('s family) have been feuding with the
Montagues ('s family) for as long as anyone in either family can remember. The reason for the
feud is never explained. The only thing the audience knows about the feud is that it's an
"ancient grudge" that's been going on between these two upper-class families,
"both alike in dignity," for a long, long time.

. Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our
scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil
hands unclean. (, 1€“4)

The brawl in the streets of
Verona that opens the play physically represents the feud between the families, and this feud
affects everything that happens to Romeo and Juliet throughout the play.

The
first time the issue arises for Romeo and Juliet themselves is when they first meet, at the
Capulets' feast. They fall in love without even knowing each other's name.

The Nurse interrupts Romeo and Juliet's intimate conversation to tell Juliet that her
mother wishes to speak with her.

NURSE. Madam, your mother
craves a word with you.

ROMEO. What is her mother?

NURSE.
Marry, bachelor,
Her mother is the lady of the house....

ROMEO. Is
she a Capulet?
O dear account! my life is my foe's debt. (1.5.117€“126)

Romeo is surprised to learn that the young woman with whom he's
fallen in love and to whom he hopes to dedicate his life is a Capulet.

At the
end of the feast, when everyone is leaving, Juliet asks the Nurse to find out who Romeo is. Her
only concern at that point is whether or not he's married, which will soon become the least of
her worries.

JULIET. What's he that follows there, that
would not dance?

NURSE. I know not.

JULIET. Go ask his
name.If he be married,
My grave is like to be my wedding bed.

NURSE.
His name is Romeo, and a Montague,
The only son of your great enemy.

JULIET. My only love, sprung from my only hate!
Too early seen unknown, and
known too late!
Prodigious birth of love it is to me
That I must love a
loathed enemy. (1.5.141€“150)

Juliet is even more
surprised and dismayed than Romeo to learn that the person with whom she's
fallen in love is a member of the family with whom her family has been feuding since time
immemorial.

The first time the term "name" occurs in the play in
relation to the feuding families is in the "balcony scene," act 2, scene 2. The term
is used several times to emphasize the importance of "name" to the relationship
between the families as well as to the budding romance between Romeo and Juliet. There is also a
question of whether their relationship can even continue.

JULIET. O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse
thy name!
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I'll no longer be a
Capulet....

'Tis but thy name that is my enemy;

...O, be
some other name!
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name
would smell as sweet. ...

Romeo, doff thy name;
And for that name,
which is no part of thee,
Take all myself. (2.2.35€“51)

This is the only scene in the play in which the term "name" is used in this
particular context, but the essence of the term, the feuding families, permeates the entire
play.

Theof Romeo and Juliet results from Romeo and
Juliet's efforts, through their love for one another, to overcome what their names
represent.

PRINCE: ...Where be these enemies? Capulet,
Montage,
See what a scourge is laid upon your hate,
That heaven finds means to
kill your joys with love!
And I, for winking at you, discords too,
Have lost a
brace of kinsmen. (5.3.302€“306)

CAPULET. ...Poor sacrifices of our enmity!
(5.3.316)