Chapter Three

What's In a Name Anyway?

A woman sat in a hospital, pushing out her baby in labor, as nurses watched. A baby slipped out- the nurse grabbed it, on the floor.

"What's the baby's name?" The nurse asked, as the woman held this newborn angel.

"Nathan."

The baby's face turned up as it heard the name it was fated to live with.

The story behind my name. I figured it was a little awkward, just, for no good reason, the audience acceptance of my name, Nathan. So before anything else remotely eventful happens, I'll tell you the deal.

Two parents sat in their house talking, the mother pregnant.

"What should the name be?" The mother asked.

"Something American," he replied.

"The only American name I know is Nathan."

"Nathan. That's nice. It sounds like a pretty boy name. What if it's a girl?" she inquired.

"Nathan could still work. Plenty of girls have boy names in America. We'd be cutting edge!"

The wife smiled, "Okay."

I'd love to tell you something else- anything else- about why and how my name came to be Nathan. I'd love to say it was some Japanized version of the name Natasha, since we Japanese have SUCH a problem pronouncing English concenents. I'd love to say it was a short version of Nathania I took on to sound cool, but not so. You see- my parents had an affinity with things that were both historical and American. My father- the one who suggested my name be Nathan, be I boy OR girl- had this misconstrued idea that Nathan was the name of some great, proto-colonial American hero. That it was the name of some famous, powerful man like Achillies or Magellan or something. Truth is it just makes me out to be something I'm not- an American rebel boy. Does it not? Tell me that when you hear the name "Nathan" you don't think blonde-hair, blue eyes, otaku, owning an Xbox and every other ninja game there is. Has a 1.5 GPA and stays up going to and organzing illegal streetraces in his dads old mustang. I mean- I hack, I scateboard, I'm on the verge of dropping out- but I don't think I'm a rebel. Maybe I am though. Maybe the name Nathan did affect me. Thus I am, and will be- Nathan the Great.