Name calling

Having the last name of "Lincoln" has been very interesting. I can't say I'm very fond of "Greg," though I am used to it by now. I have rather negative feelings about my middle name, "Alan," not necessarily because it is a bad name in an of itself (though it holds no meaning whatsoever for me either), but simply because it give me a rather poor set of initials.

I always have thought of my name as kind of uncommon, but commonly regarded and well-known. I mean, just try to find any town of over 15,000 people that doesn't have something named Lincoln in it. However, since the advent of Google, I've found way too many Greg Lincolns for my own taste. I feel much more common now.

As a kid growing up, probably the most common question I got about my name was (everyone chime in)..."Are you related to Abe?" The answer was always "no", but not always easy to explain. My father, Robert Lincoln, was adopted in his late teens by Ray Lincoln, automatically eliminating any pure-blood ties to the Lincoln name (though legally is another matter). I was able to later find out that all of Abraham Lincoln's descendants had passed away, which while tragic for that family line, made things much easier to explain without getting into a lengthy discussion involving my own genealogy.

Another childhood memory of my name (and probably a good warning for my children), is a rhyme that some other kids made up and decided was fun to sing in elementary school:

"Stinkin' Lincoln, I've been thinkin', what the heck have you been drinkin'?"

Yep, that sums up a good chunk of my childhood right there.

These days, I must say I get a lot less comments or questions (or songs) about my name, though it does occasionally pop up. Most often though, it seems my name gets noticed at church. For those of you who are not Mormon, our church has certain duties assigned to members of the congregation. These are purely acts of service, and some carry quite a bit of responsibility. My calling title is Elder's Quorum President, which means I'm supposedly in charge of the Elder's Quorum. What I never anticipated (until getting the calling), is that now a whole bunch of people commonly refer to me (in third person and to me directly) as "President Lincoln." I must admit it was quite unnerving at first. I kept hoping that no one named "Booth" would join our ward.

Looking forward, I'm interested to see what complaints/occurrences/cool things happen with my kids regarding their last name. I've already had some fun with it, stuff like telling Thurman (at age 4) that his mommy had dug the Lincoln Tunnel. At least I can take comfort in the fact that as a thoughtful parent, my children's initials are nothing to be ashamed of.


Some other "Lincoln" facts:

• Thurman was born in the Land of Lincoln (Illinois)
• I thoroughly enjoyed "Manhunt: The 12-day chase for Lincoln's killer" by James L. Swanson. I probably felt more avenged than most people do.
• I have a t-shirt that reads "Lincoln Shot First", I even wore it to Ford's Theater.
• They Might Be Giants (my all-time favorite band) had an album called Lincoln.
• I've been to Lincoln's tomb in Springfield, IL. That's the only nice thing that can be said about the town.
• Hoboken has a Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Monroe, Jackson, Harrison, Clinton, and even Sinatra streets, but no Lincoln.
• On my morning commute, I often ride the ferry "Abraham Lincoln."
• We have two turtles, one is named Abraham.