Truth be told, I've never been a real big fan of my name.
Don't get me wrong, I like the legal one. Louis is just fine by me.
Unfortunately, I'm the fourth person to have the name Louis M. Newman in my family. When I arrived on the scene, my three predecessors had already claimed "Louis," "Lou" and "Louie" and there apparently weren't any other natural derivatives of the name. For some reason, my parents took my middle name which is Murat (here's where that name came from) and came up with "Murray" as my street name.
It aggravates the hell out of my mom when I tell her I don't like my name. I'm not alone in my dislike for it.
As the Internet came to be, I, like everyone else, googled my own name and learned that there were at least two other Murray Newmans out there who were much more prominent than I ever thought of being.
One was an Australian football player who seemed to get in trouble with the police quite a bit.
The other, was quite a bit cooler. He was a Canadian gentleman who was the founding director of the Vancouver Aquarium. He was also one of the world's foremost experts on Killer Whales.
Kind of made me feel like the name might be just a little bit cooler.
Dr. Newman passed away on Friday, at the age of 92. From what I've read, he leaves behind an utterly amazing legacy in his marine studies and conservation. I've been reading up on my namesake for years, and I found myself surprisingly sad to learn that he passed away.
So, here's to you Murray. I enjoyed sharing a name with you. Rest in peace.
6 comments:
The doctor is definitely the better namesake. Of the footballer it says: "After the 2012 season, Newman was involved in a fight outside a nightclub and was charged with causing grievous bodily harm. A few days later in two 2 kilometer training runs, Newman recorded the slowest times, even being beaten by his 44-year-old coach, John Worsfold."
It's not too late for a different Louis derivation - what about Lulu?
If you're tired of "Louis", try one of the many variants of the name in other languages. In Germany it's Ludwig and Alois and its Latinized form Aloysius. In Italy it's Luigi. In Spain and Mexico it's Luis. In medieval Frankish it was Chlodwig and Clovis.
Here's the complete list I found, where else, on the Internet.
OTHER LANGUAGES: Koldobika, Koldo (Basque), Loïc (Breton), Lluís (Catalan), Alojz, Alojzije (Croatian), Alois, Ludvík, Luděk (Czech), Ludvig (Danish), Aloysius, Lodewijk, Louis, Lowie, Ludo (Dutch), Aloysius, Lewis, Louis, Lou, Louie (English), Ludoviko, Luĉjo (Esperanto), Loïc, Louis, Ludovic, Clovis, Lou (French), Lois (Galician), Alois, Aloysius, Ludwig, Lutz (German), Alajos, Lajos (Hungarian), Lúðvík (Icelandic), Alaois (Irish), Alvise, Lodovico, Ludovico, Luigi, Gino, Luigino, Vico (Italian), Ludis, Ludvigs (Latvian), Liudvikas (Lithuanian), Aloys, Aloysius (Medieval Occitan), Ludvig (Norwegian), Loís (Occitan), Alojzy, Ludwik (Polish), Aloisio, Luís, Luisinho (Portuguese), Luiz (Portuguese (Brazilian)), Alojz (Slovak), Alojz, Alojzij, Ludvik, Lojze (Slovene), Luis, Lucho (Spanish), Ludvig, Love, Ludde (Swedish)
If you don't like any of those, just stick to Murray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWKscZhkkx0
In 1989, there was a Greg Gilleland killed in a motorcycle accident on 146 near La Porte. If memory serves it was around New Year's Eve. I recall getting a call from my boss the next morning to see if I was the one who had died, which I found funny.
Hope you are well, Murray and all the readers I know in Htown, and congrats on the great remission status!
Greg
Greg,
I was just thinking about you the other day and wondering how you were doing. I guess I need to write more so we can have more frequent discussions! How are you doing?
Post a Comment