Do you know what my name is? Is it Denny? Is it Tommy? Is it Gomez? That’s ok sometimes I don’t know for sure myself. One of these days I’m going to interview my parents and find out the real story behind my name and also how and why in the hell my father gave me my middle name. In the mean time you’re stuck with my version of the story. (mind you I don’t remember where I got this story from. I think I overheard my parents explaining it to someone).
As I understand it the reason for my dual name happened before I was born. Supposedly while I was still in my mother’s womb, she was planning on giving me the name Tommy. I had not been born yet so she went around telling people my name was Tommy. Eventually people go the picture and the future baby’s name was Tommy. Legend has it that when I was born, my father changed my name at the very last minute right before the doctors could put on the wrist band with Tommy it. At the same time he also decided to bestow upon me m middle name. Most normal kids are given a middle name after a family member like a grandparent, parent, uncle or a famous person. I mean even two of my brothers have normal middle names (my brother Michael “Antonio” is has my mother’s fathers name as his name and my brother John “Carlos” has my fathers name as his). What do I get as a middle name? Well I’m not going to reveal it here but lets just say that my father thought that I was as big as a …
Many people consider my preferred name a nickname. By definition alone they are completely right. I, however, consider Tommy to be my real or main name while Denny is what the “Man” calls me to keep me down. I’m just kidding about the last part but seriously I do consider Tommy to be my real name. I use my dual nameship to my advantage though. For as long as I can remember I have used my names to determine where I know a person from. Have you ever had someone come up to you and for the life of you , you can’t remember where you know this person from or how they know you? Of course you have and I have to. However, unlike most I am able to at least narrow down “how” I know the person simply by what they call me.
If someone calls me Tommy then I can guess that this person knows me from back home somehow. Only family and close friends call me Tommy. If someone calls me Denny then I can guess that I know this person from either school, work or some other non-friendly related place. I also have the ability to know when someone calls me the wrong name just by hearing the name come out of that person’s mouth. Nine out of ten times I will introduce myself as Tommy. When I meet someone outside of work, school or any other business related environment where I don’t have to sign my name, I will say Tommy is my name. If I’m in a business setting like school or work or some other place where I might have to one day sign my name then I will just use Denny so that I don’t get any weird looks later.
As for the Gomez part. Well in the Marines, the enlisted go by their last names for everything. Of course rank is included when need be. Notice I specifically say enlisted. Thats because officers just call each other Bob and Joe and James or whatever other first names they have. So thats it for my name. Like I said earlier, I will eventually interview my parents and try and get the straight scoop. For now take this story as is.
