What's in a Name?

 

What’s in a Name?

Noel Laflin

2-22-23

My parents once told me that I was almost named Chris instead of Noel, but changed their minds when they thought it through as there was already a boy named Kris living two doors down.

“We figured we would either end up with two kids showing up, or the wrong one,” my mother recalled.  “Back then, the only way to get you kids home was by yelling out the back door that dinner was ready, or you were in trouble,” she concluded.

So, they gave me Christopher as a middle name instead.

Their plan worked out well until the neighbors to the left of us produced a boy shortly thereafter and named him Joel.

Needless to say, both my folks and the next door neighbors frequently had the wrong kid showing up for dinner.

Pictured here are Kris and Noel. There was no room for Joel, however. He was probably in trouble anyway.