What's in a name?

I awoke this morning to the news that the Independent candidate for Governor of Illinois, Scott Lee Cohen, had picked a running mate. This is not particularly interesting news, except that the person chosen has a very interesting name, Baxter Swilley. If this election was won or lost based on the uniqueness of names, this guy wins in a landslide.

But what's in a name? My name, for example, has a biblical meaning of "rock". One look at me and my fluffy midriff and sprouting man-boobs would lead one to believe that my parents were misguidedly optimistic. Sure, I could change my name to something more appropriate, like Prince or Master P, but I don't possess the requisite vanity for such a transformation.

Which leads me to believe that nicknames (at least in the world of men) are more often representative of how we are seen by the world. The general rule of thumb is that one cannot nickname oneself, (I tried, but my wife laughed "Boom Boom" out of the room). Nicknames can only be assigned by friends and family.

For some, this can be a simple as a shortening of a name, as in "Sully" or "Smitty". For others, it may be based in a physical characteristic, like "Red" or "Freckles". Or be flat-out mean like "Tarhead" or "Bubbles". However, my favorite nicknames are those creative monikers that withstand the test of time.

This brings me to Mel.

Before going any further, I must say that it takes a special kind of person to embrace a nickname that is deprecating, and to know Mel is to love Mel. He's a large, loud, jolly man with a large frame and an even larger heart. But Mel hasn't always been "Mel".

"Mel" is a version of his real name that was contracted into it's current form during our teen years, right around the time that his head started growing faster than his body (and we needed to know a guy named "Mel" in case we wanted to start a bowling team - as every team needs to have one).

During the late 80s, and based on cinematic reference, "Mel" was replaced with "Uncle Buck" (which should give you an appropriate mental picture of his physical presence). And, more recently, a grass roots effort has been established to amend "Mel" to "Cheese Fries" (I won't go into why). As much as this makes me giggle, I don't think it will stick.

That's because, as much as we may try to change his nickname, all the great memories that we've had together, I've had with "Mel". Trying to change that nickname at this point just doesn't seem right.

But it sure is fun to try.