A puzzling little blog still looking for its voice, but sometimes gets lost and has trouble finding its way.
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Stuck in the Middle Name Game
I have been wondering a lot about names lately, particularly mine. For instance, I do not have a cool middle name. In fact, I don't have a middle name at all; I have a second surname. It's Hall. Not 'Hal,' but Hall. For much of my grade school years, I would write out my entire name on my assignments to make my name look grander. By high school, I would write out just my middle initial instead, with or without a period. By college, I stopped using that affectation and just go by my regular first and last names. Unfortunately, I had already started using my initial on some forms and I still receive many documents with that stupid initial in them. While I could change it, no regular middle names go well with my first name. My first name has two syllables, but only four letters. This makes it tough to match up well with it as I would need a longer name for a good match. On the other hand, I like my first name greatly. It is uncommon enough to be easily remembered, but not that unusual to make it hard to understand. It is even starting to become more popular. Just look at This Is Us. The fourth, or fifth depending upon the plot line, male lead has my name. I have even seen it elsewhere, although I dislike it when it has an added "e" (pretentious) or when used as a girls' name (non-traditional). And since it is the diminutive of Tobias, my name even has a Biblical connection (OK, it is from the Apocrypha, but it still counts). Toby is even a word onto itself. It means a figurative earthenware vessel use for drinking warmed alcoholic beverages, like mulled cider, usually with a face. They aren't seen as much nowadays, but they are a kitschy collectable. I even have one in the shape of a monkey. My last name is even easier to explain, if you know German (or Yiddish, I am not sure which language applies in my case). It literally means 'wine garden,' a venue for drinking wine, not growing or fermenting it. Not much more to explain there, unless one remembers one of the many definitions of hall is also a venue for refreshments, such as beer, and then things get a little more interesting. That would make my name a combination of three different types of alcohol all mixed together in one delightfully confusing booze-fest. An author couldn't craft a finer name for a character who is continually drinking. All well in good, except I usually don't drink, making my name a beautiful example of irony. It's a direct counterpoint to Sir Toby Belch from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night; not my favorite comedy, but it is second, if only for that character.
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