What's in a Name?

It gets complicated.

"Have you done Buckie's tax return yet?" they ask.

"Who?" I ask.  I have several in the works, but no one named Buckie.

"You know!  Buckie Grimes!  I gave it to you last week!"

I search frantically and realize I do have Buckie's return.  Except it's not Buckie, it's Reginald Bucknell Grimes.  Tax returns are done under the Social Security card name of the taxpayer.  Except, particularly here in the South, very few are referred by their birth certificate first name.

It's likely that Reginald is also his Daddy's name. And maybe his Granddaddy, and even his Granddaddy's Granddaddy. So they don't use the first name as the identifier, it's the middle name that may vary.

And then there's the strong tendency toward Juniors.  In that case, the name may be identical, even the middle name. So,they're often monikered with the generation.  We start with Junior, and then move on from there to Tray.  I've even heard Quad and Quint.  Thankfully, I know of no one who's carried forward to the sixth generation.  I'd hate to be called Sext.

Sometimes the name used, whether middle or nickname, is not for generational reasons.  I think that there are some who are just of the mindset that the first name is decorative only, and that it is another name that the person should be known by.

I have a little trouble with that, but it's probably just because it's not what I grew up with.  Where I grew up, in the cold confines of Michigan, that was not the dominant way of doing things.  People were generally called by their first name.  However, we weren't quite quirk free,  The name was most often shortened to one or two syllables, as if the name needed to be condensed, as if anything more would just be too long to say in our freezing winters.  Best to get the name done quickly.  Therefore, my birth first name was shortened from Thomas to Tom.  In our Southern example above, Reginald Bucknell Grimes would most likely be Reggie or Reg.

I've lived in Georgia since 1978.  By the time my first son was born, I had figured out that naming him had to be done carefully.  How did I ensure that his first name was used instead of his middle? First, there was gonna be no Juniors in the Strait household.  I now have three sons, and none of them have Thomas in their name, either first or middle.  Second, I would use a family tradition that started with me - the middle name used is a last name from the mother's side of the family.  My firstborn has the accessible first name of Gregory, and his mother's maiden name as his middle, Rountree.  And as if he was a Yankee, he is most commonly referred to as "Greg".  In the case of all three boys, the plan worked!  All three are called by their first names.

So, if all you know is the name on the tax return, it can be a real guessing game as to what name the person is really using.  Maybe when I'm given the tax return to do, they could put on the summary sheet that is prepared to go with the return, the real name and the nickname, like "Reginald Bucknell Grimes AKA Buckie".

But gee whiz, everybody knows who Buckie is!

Except me, apparently.