Ellsworth

“What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet.” Shakespeare

My family of origin argued about my name before I was born.
Neither side 'won,' and there was never agreement.
So I ended up with the name I got, and my family simply called me something other than my legal name.

Around age 24 is when I started using my legal name for the first time.
Of course, my family stuck with using the name they had chosen despite my requests to change.

Try as I might, I have never successfully gotten them to consistently call me by my legal name.
The discussions about it has led to some interesting arguments,
and expansion of understanding (unilateral at least, perhaps bilaterally).

Over 50 years, the same discussion/argument cycle continues.
And now society has joined the fray, with the concept of a "dead names."

As I aged into the position that I should not make fun of other people's name.
It's not funny, I've grown pretty good at that.
And it has left me very willing to call others by the name they choose.

If someone wants to call themselves "December," then "December" I shall call them.

Some of my earliest memories are of arguments about my name, and collating log home building plans.