What's In A Name

Years ago, one of my kids was talking to a friend, who was trying to remember my name.  She couldn’t come up with it, and eventually she said that it was "some old guy’s name.”  And so it was that I first recall ‘Bill’ being called an old guy’s name.

For reasons unknown, I always remembered that story.  My given name is William, and I certainly have other options for an everyday nickname, including Will, or the more contemporary Liam.  (But not Billy, I already went through that phase as a child.)

So in the past year or so, after reading that the name Liam was the #1 name for newborn boys in Iowa for the past two years, I’ve been jokingly(?) asking folks to call me Liam, because Bill is an old guy’s name and I’m still a young guy.

This Liam thing is starting to catch on.  So I'm telling people.

If I simply don’t respond to Bill, by chance or by choice, I can always correct the person by saying I don’t recognize Bill anymore, only Liam.  Of course, this isn’t entirely true – because I’ll also go with Will.  I often use Will instead of Liam when asked for a name at a casual/fast food restaurant.

Name versatility.  It allows you to go from a young guy to an old guy and back to a young guy.