names

Dylan,

I just came across a list of ideas that Mom and I were working from when we chose your moniker. It's actually several lists and it looks something like this:

FIRST
Dylan
Dorian
Zachary/Zacharias
Mattias
Zeke
Eli
Tobias
Owen
Quenton
Tanner
Anton
Jasper
Braden
Carson
Grady
Alistair


MIDDLE
Casa
Phoenix
Sirius
Prefontaine

SHORT LIST
Dylan
Eli
Zachary
Owen
Tanner
Jasper
Braden
Grady

SHORTER LIST
Dylan
Elias
Zachary
Owen
Braden
Grady

We'd obviously put a lot more effort into first names than middle ones, and hadn't yet settled on, or probably even considered, Miles, which we both took to very quickly. Missing from this list are Davis (a favorite of mine, middle or first) and Jace (which Mom suggested repeatedly, but I steadfastly refused to consider).

Tonight when I showed the list to Mom she looked it up and down before quickly saying "We picked the right one". "He could have been a Phoenix" she added.

Names are funny things. We identify with them so much that they begin to inform us of who we are sometimes. You are a G because that is the name of your father, and of his father before him. But Your great-great-grandfather wasn't named G. It was his son, Ivan, who traded for his step-father's name, shedding either Butler or Turner (I forget) in the process.

In time I hope you'll understand that you are not defined by Dylan Miles G. Rather, Dylan Miles G is defined by you.

Dad