The origin of a name

I got my name thanks to a misunderstanding. My dad’s nickname was Dick, so my mom assumed his given name was Richard. It wasn’t. The first time his birthday rolled around while they were dating, my mom bought him a belt buckle with “Richard” on it. He got upset—he thought it was a gift she’d bought for someone else and was now trying to recycle to him. They cleared up the misunderstanding, but that raised the question: How did he get that nickname?

He claimed that his favorite baseball player as a kid was Dick something-or-other. So people started calling him that and it stuck. He had a brother they called “Shin” when they were kids—because the guy could shinny up a tree in a flash, but that name didn’t stick. Why did “Dick”? I learned the real reason a few years ago, after my dad passed away.

According to my uncle, my dad was a very stubborn kid—he wouldn’t listen to anyone. That really annoyed their German grandfather, who said over and over and over that my dad was “thick headed” (which helps explain the time he circumcised his little brother--which is a much more interesting post than this one!). Eventually the grandfather just started calling him “thick”. Because of the man’s heavy German accent, it came out “dick” and before long everyone knew him by that nickname.

I tease my oldest brother on occasion that while he was named after our father, I’m named after the man our mother hoped he was. Hey, I HAVE to be the annoying little brother once in a while. LOL!

Have a great weekend!


PS – I’ve been Ricky (before elementary school), Richard (in elementary school—I was a formal child), and Rick (ever since elementary school).