Winning Words 9/18/12
“A good laugh is sunshine in the house.”  (William Makepeace Thackeray)  I wonder how Thackeray got his middle name?  My middle name is Harold, after my father.  Our son’s 2nd name is the city where he was born..Merrill.  A man named, July September, has the middle name of August.  A French orchestra leader has over 30 second names .  Are there some interesting middle names in your family?  What’s yours?    ;-)  Jack

 FROM MV IN MICHIGAN:  My middle name is Merrill. As is my son’s middle name. It was my maternal grandfather’s last name. He did not have sons and I wanted to keep the name alive. I also work for Merrill Lynch! I like Merrill!////FROM JACK:  Our son's "Merrill" is a city in north central Wisconsin.  There's also a Merrill in Michigan.

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  My middle name, Kay, a really nondescript middle name if I ever heard one--no ancestor, as far as I know, had that middle name, only became interesting to me when my husband decided to use it for our daughter's middle name. We actually use it constantly only except as the initial "K." Wonder how the guy got his last name "September"? Fun WW and interesting author's name with them. I hope his parents had a very long and contented relationship.////FROM JACK:  I wonder if Thackeray was a pacifist?

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  mine is alice.  i like it...whimsical.  i am known as "mary alice the third" by my sister pat.  it is the name on her and mom's baptismal certificate.  those crazy catholic rules!  my daddy called me maya lisa the finn version of mary alice.  i still miss that.////FROM JACK:  Mary...It's a grand old name.  I had never thought of it before, but the Mayans must have been named for the Virgin Mary. ////MARY:  For it was mary...mary...plain as any name can be.  Mayans...virgin?  Interesting connection.  Love historic contemplation.

 FROM PLAIN FOLKS CHESTER:  Of course you were named after your father. You couldn't have been named before him.////FROM JACK:  Don't be so sure about that.  Haven't you heard of the song, "I'm My Own Grandpa?"  BTW, Mine is William. Isn't that Great?

 FROM CS IN RICE LAKE:  My middle name is Stella – after my mother.  My mother’s middle name was Olina – her mother’s first name. I gave Susanne my first name and she gave her daughter, Jennifer,  her first name to carry on the tradition. I was supposed to be a boy and would have been called Carl…so I ended up being named for both my parents. ////FROM JACK:  O'Lina sounds Irish, instead of Swedish.

 FROM INDY GENIE: Oldest to youngest sibs middle names: Eugene (dad's name)Karol, Ernest  (mom's uncle), Arloa, Leopold ( grandfather), Alice, Ann, Lea (Sarah Lea ..dad wanted to name her Shirley.. Mom said no...compromise :)////FROM JACK:  A pastor was giving a lesson to a group of children on the 23rd Psalm. He noticed that one of the little boys seemed disquieted by the phrase "Surely, goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life..."  "What's wrong with that, Johnny?" the pastor asked.  "Well," answered Johnny, "I understand about having goodness and mercy, for God is good. But I'm not sure I'd like Shirley following me around all the time."

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  "The most wasted of all days is one without laughter"...E.E.Cummings So true. Laughter is the sound of Heaven!  My twin sister and I were given rhyming middle names" Janet Eileen, and Marilyn Jean...I briefly tried to go by "Jean" in Jr. High, so our first names would be more "twinny", but it was too hard to get my friends and family to make the "change'! My Mother's name was Thelma Ruth, but she always went by Ruth.  Ordinarily not much thought is given about middle names, but "Makepeace" is a bit unusual, Thackeray certainly made no secret of it, usually signing his full three names..////FROM JACK: I've found that many people don't like their middle names.  My sister doesn't like, Ruth.  My grandson doesn't like Forrest.  I'm glad that I wasn't given my father's middle name..Jacobi.

.FROM CJL IN OHIO:  "Johnson" after my maternal grandfather.////FROM JACK:  That's interesting.  If I'd had my mother's maden name for my middle one, it would be, Haubold (pronounced, How Bold), John HowBold Freed.

 FROM CPA BOB IN MICHIGAN:  My middle name is (ordinary) Edward, but the middle name of one of my grandsons is “Legend”, for the basketball super-star, “Larry Byrd”.  Byrd is our son-in-law’s all-time favorite sports figure.////FROM JACK:  I like Legend as a middle name.  Byrd would be OK, too.  How about Magic?

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Very simply Ann.  However, my sister's middle name is Jay.  We used to asked my mom why she named Valerie "Jay but she said she liked the sound of Valerie Jay. Our littlest granddaughter is named Melanie Ann after both grandma's (or "Monnee" as she calls me.  Laughter is such a wonderful blessing!  Everyone should laugh out loud at least once a day.////FROM JACK:  I think that many names are chose, because they sound nice.  The inventor of the Lear jet airplane named his daughter, Chanda...Chanda Lear.////JUDY:  Kimberly went to school with Penny Nichols.

FROM EMT SINGS IN MICHIGAN:  Very simple-Marie.  Now if you are talking about first names--Eunice is something else again!////FROM JACK:  Whenever I hear "Eunice," I think of you...and then Carol Burnett.

 FROM JT IN  WISCONSIN:  Answer: Evans. My Dad's first name - Gideon; my Mother's - Clara. My late dear sister was named Clarine Gideonette. (I got the impression she didn't care for that middle name). My Mother's middle name - Justine; which reminds me - remember J.I. Case in Moline? Did the initials stand for Just In?////FROM JACK:  Do you suppose that female members of the Gideon Society are called, Gideonettes?  And, I'd never heard that about the tractor maker, J.I. Case.  Did you know that the J.I. really stood for Jerome Increase...talk about a strange middle name.  I wonder how he got it?

 FROM FM IN WISCONSIN:  Jack, my middle name is August, from one of my grandfathers.  I never liked it.  I have always used the ‘A’ in all documents and have signed my name, Frederick A. Marks.   Soon after I arrived on the campus at Carthage, a classmate asked me what the ‘A’ stood for.  I replied ‘Ann’ and very soon I was known as ‘Freddie Ann’ on campus.   I learned my lesson!    Now I use ‘August’! ////FROM JACK:  You have the same middle name as Mr. July September.