What's In A Name

My legal first name is William. I was never called William except maybe on the first day of school when the teacher was calling the roll or on graduation day. I am also a junior (Jr.) so I couldn't go by the normal nickname Bill without being confused with my dad. For the first 20 years or so of my life, I was known as Billy. Once I got into the business world after college I mostly became Bill. I wasn't in the same town as my father so there was no confusion. For whatever reason, neither dad or I were ever known as Wil or Will or Willie. A couple of dad's old friends referred to him as Billy but most of them called him Ducky. I never did get a good explanation of how that name came about. To the day he died, he was Ducky or Uncle Ducky to a certain portion of those who knew him. He was Bill to most people. 

Although I became Bill in my business life, most of my old friends from my youth still called me Billy. A few newer friends called me that too for some reason. For most of my adult life, I have answered to both names. I've also answered to a few other less flattering names. 

I know many people strongly object to the nicknames of their youth. I understand that, especially when it's a somewhat embarrassing name for an adult. I may have had a few years during my life when I didn't want to be called Billy but it was never a big deal. I think I just started going by Bill because I was in the adult business world and Bill seemed like a more adult name. 

There are many old and dear friends who will always call me Billy. There are others who are equally good friends who will always call me Bill. There are also a very few who have their own nickname for me, but that is none of your business. 

Names are funny and very personal. Some formal names have many variations. Think about Katherine or Elizabeth. Other legal names sound like nicknames. I always thought Larry was the diminutive of Lawrence but it is, in fact, the real name of many. Some nicknames make no logical sense. How did Dick become a nickname for Richard or Ted (Teddy) for Edward? On the female side, we have Betsy for Elizabeth. We have names that can be either female or male. Then there are those who have names that are spelled differently than the norm. I never know if that was on purpose for some reason or if the parents didn't know the correct spelling. Let's not even talk about parents that saddle their kids with extremely unusual names. We all know people who go by a nickname like Bubba, Buddy, Trey or by their initials and we may never know their real name. Hell, in the South, Bubba may be their legal name.

So as I end this very serious post let me say, you can call me Billy and you can call me Wil or you can call me Will and you can call me Willy or you can call me Bill, but you doesn't have to call me William... Some older readers will get the reference. 

wjh