NAME CALLING

Our ‘given names’ and what we are ‘called’ by people vary many times. I’m sure you’ve experienced it, maybe even first hand.

Some people are full name people; Edgar Allen Poe, Hillary Rodham Clinton, James Earl Jones. Some use their first name but make sure their middle initial is noted; John D. Rockefeller, John F. Kennedy. Others use just their initials; P.T. Barnum, L.L. Bean, W.C. Fields. Then there’s the first initial and middle name guys; F. Scott Fitzgerald, G. Gordon Liddy, E. Howard Hunt. And let’s not forget the people who are known by one name; Cher, Elvis, Houdini. The strangest name combination I ran across can be blamed on actors Donald Sutherland and Shirley Douglas. They had a son that we all know as Kiefer. But his parents went a little overboard and his given name is…Kiefer William Frederick Dempsey George Rufus Sutherland. No wonder the poor guy has a drinking problem. He’s still pissed at his parents!

Then there are guys who are known by their middle name. If people say their first name, we often wouldn’t know who they’re talking about; William Bradley Pitt, James Paul McCartney and Troyal Garth Brooks.

Well that’s me. I’m a middle name guy. My given name is George Daniel Clark, but I grew up thinking my name was Danny. It was the 1st day of third grade that I remember someone actually calling me George. No one ever called me George. I don’t even remember getting that ‘full name’ call from my parents when I was in trouble as a child!

I started third grade in a new school, in a new town (Vincennes), so I was an unknown to everybody at the school. So when that teacher asked if ‘George’ was present, she didn’t know that that wasn’t me. Until then, I had lived in a small town (Owensville) where the 1000 people of the town knew me and my brothers, sisters, parents and grandparents. No one needed to call me George because I was just ‘little Danny’, Wayne & Martha’s boy.

Those school years after the move to Vincennes were tough on me when ‘George’ was called. It drew the attention of my friends and classmates who would immediately remind me of the Georgie Porgie rhyme, or the funny face and…GEORGE(?) look. I’d try to ignore it but I really disliked it. Why did my parents name me George? And why did they call me Danny then? For some reason, I never asked those questions aloud to my parents, I just thought them to myself. (Of the six of us kids, 4 of us were called by our middle names).

All through my remaining school years, I was Danny. Then suddenly, in my college years, one instructor called me ‘Dan’ and, lo and behold, it stuck. From that point on, I became…Dan. After all, Danny is a little boys’ name, right? And I was now grown up and it was time to move up to ‘Dan’. After college and our move to Lafayette, the Dan just stuck. New town, new people, they didn’t know any differently.

When people would try to find me in the phone book, they’d run into problems because I was listed under my legal name, George. Whenever (even to this day) someone would call and ask for George, I know it’s not someone who knows me and is likely asking me for money. (The benefits of “George” finally paid off!)

In recent years, I took on a new approach. I go by a variety of names. To most of my friends and co-workers, I’m still Dan (although Dr. Dan the Nuc Med man is commonly thrown my way at work).

I’ve even began to use George when it’s something official, or I’m going to need to use my credit card or sign a legal document. Throwing that middle name in there just gets too confusing to them and it takes more time to explain than just saying, “I’m George.”

I also realized that, to my brother, sister, cousins, nieces and nephews, I am and always will be ‘Danny’ to them…and that’s NOT such a bad thing. That’s what they knew me as…and that’s how I want them to remember me.

Dan
Danny
George