a rose by any other name

a rose by any other name (would smell as sweet)

What someone or something is called does not change their innate characteristics or attributes. The shorter version of the phrase is often used when describing undesirable people or things. The full line is from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, in which Juliet bemoans the fact that Romeo, whom she loves, is a Montague, her family's rivals. You can dress up his treasonous actions with whatever heroic descriptors you like, but it still remains treason. A rose by any other name, as they say. Honestly, I don't care if they end up changing the name of my town. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, and this will always be home. A: "Do they really think that changing the company's name is going to effectively distance it from the scandal?" B: "Yeah, I don't get it. A rose by any other name, and all that."

See also: any, by, name, other, rose, smell

a ˈrose by any other name (would smell as ˈsweet)

(saying) what is important is what people or things are, not what they are calledThis phrase comes from Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet.

rose by any other name, a

The name does not reflect the basic qualities of something or someone. The cliché is a direct quotation from Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (2:2), in which Juliet says, “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 called.” Today it is often used jokingly, as it was by Clyde Jinks in 1901 (Captain Jinks): “A cabbage by any other name would swell as sweet.”