If we end up having a boy, there will be a 90% chance he will be called “Glanzer” far more than his actual name. Very few people call me Ryan, especially co-workers and friends. I don’t know, maybe Glanzer is just a cool sounding name, or Ryan is too common. I certainly don’t mind; there are much worse names I could be called.

That got me to thinking, how many other people do I know who are known almost exclusively by their last name and not their first name or some other nickname?

Many, now that I think about it!

– Callaway co-workers Tom Valvo, Dave (Dobe) Dobrinski, and Kyle Niemie.
– Former Microboards co-workers Jim Speich, Mike Brochu, Andy Broderick and Brian Towey.
– College friends Chris Walsh, Brad Feeney, Jake Drotzman, Jesse Cooney, Justin Jung, Josh Bosch, Justin Hipple, Andrew Murphy, Eric Bischke, and Josh Schuh.
– Willow Lake School classmates Josh Maynard, Josh Symens, Dustin Davies, Brandon (Effy) Efraimson, and Justin Korbel.
– Other friends Ryan (Bart) Bart and Dan Jaker.

I wonder what makes these names stand out opposed to others? These are a wide range of last names. I get the ones that end in the “E” sound, that makes a good nickname. Feeney, Towey, Niemie, Cooney… The one-syllable names are also understandable, like Speich, Schuch, Walsh, and Jung. Some were more for clarity due to others with the same first name, like my WLHS classmates where we had two Joshes, two Dustins, and two Brandons in a class of eleven boys.

But I think in my final over-analysis, the last names are more unique and more fun than these everyday first names.