What’s in a Name?
My name is unique. It began as the maiden name of a distant French Jewish ancestor and then was made a middle name several generations back. The legal form of the name has now been used through 4 generations which some say is a southern thing, but I was simply fond of it which is why I passed it to my son. I am the only one of the 4 generations who has used the middle name in a shortened form, in fact, it could be considered a nickname like Bubba, Slim, or Junior.
As an example of its uniqueness is that it doesn’t get supported by those vanity custom name key chains kiosks found on the way to the check-out line at touristy gift shops. Ken, Kevin, and Kim were the closest vanity key chain names on the displays which, ironically, were 2 of the dozen names I have been called during a lifetime of misunderstood introductions.
The back story began when my wife and I traveled the country for 14 months living in a small pop-up camper with no toilet. I added the toilet thing for dramatic effect and has no impact on the story or my name.
We camped next to a young couple and their customized white van during one overnight stop. They both worked remotely and had a friendly yellow lab. We learned that they were big into vlogging (video blogging) and we later even watched a few videos to better understand them. In short, they were all things #vanlife and were enjoying every bit of it.
The conversations were interesting, sharing our travels and discussing life. We passed and waved a few times coming and going from the restrooms and then not even 24 hours later, we parted ways. We both moved north up the California coast and even stayed within a few minutes of each other in a place called Klamath but we never saw each other again. We did pass a few emails back and forth over the next several weeks but no more contact beyond seeing them occasionally on social media.
So, I was a bit shocked when out of the cold blue last week, I got an email with a picture of their newborn son whom they legally named using thekempster (pen name used to protect the young, and me) as his middle name.
I honestly went through a series of emotional thoughts including, am I being scammed, poor kid will never get a vanity key chain at a cheap touristy shop, to this is quite cool to have someone use my name for their kid.
My namesake’s dad went on to explain in his email that they wanted to use a middle name that iconically marked their travels around the country with the name of someone they met during their travels and my unique cool name was the winner! This is way better than a tattoo.
My wife and I once camped next to a guy named Plymouth Rock while traveling around the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington. I was completely skeptical when he introduced himself to me and even asked to prove it by looking at his driver’s license, which confirmed his legal name was Plymouth Rock. Aside from Mr. and Mrs. Rock’s cool naming idea, it was fun for us to always be able to proclaim that we camped next to Plymouth Rock in Washington.
In the end, I have come to terms that it wasn’t anything I did, said, or my virtuous life lived, but the fact that our paths crossed on our travels and my unique nickname was something they could use to forever document their stories.
After a few tabletop discussions with friends over shared sushi, I have concluded that this is an honor. This wonderful family will use my name as an icon of fond memories they’ve shared. That I will be mentioned for several generations as the source of this middle name that this child will carry through life. Now touched by this gesture, I have considered sending him an infant-sized pair of Crocs and a cute pair of socks as his first camp gear.
