When you think of the name “Milo,” what first comes to mind? An Olympic athlete? A rockstar? While the Latin root of this name means “soldier,” this connotation is the opposite of what my father had in mind: Milo was the name he would give to a beloved pet dog if he ever owned one.

Not so coincidentally, it was also the name he called me in utero. My mother despised it for the reason my father adored it: While plenty of humans are named Milo, the thought that he wanted to name me after a pet struck her as a backhanded compliment to her soon-to-be-born son. Eventually, my parents settled on naming me Owen for its apparent immunity to teasing—yet after telling a high school friend this story, he started calling me “Blowin’ Owen,” desperate to think of a word with the same cadence to thwart my parents’ intentions.

Owen originates from Welsh, meaning “young warrior.” (The Bump). It was initially used during the Renaissance and has several cultural variants (The Bump). In Germany, where the paternal half of my family is from, it is known as “Eugen” (Plant). Owen was the 335th most common name in the United States in 1880, rising sharply in the years following 1992 to become the country’s 28th most popular male name (The Bump). Its popularity is most likely attributable to its presence in pop culture: It is the name of Oscar-nominated actor Owen Wilson, protagonist Owen Grady in the film Jurassic World, and Chief of Trauma Surgery Owen Hunt in the television show Grey’s Anatomy (Plant).

My surname is Heidings, but it, like my first name, was not always Heidings. The German-Jewish paternal half of my family bears the last name “Heidingsfelder.” That was the name my grandmother adopted after escaping Nazi Germany in the 1940s and marrying a husband in New York with the same background. My parents gave me the Hebrew name “Eliezer” as a reminder of my grandparents’ resilience, meaning “God is my help” (Lawler). My father, too, carried the name Heidingsfelder—at least until he met my mother. Respecting the name’s history but thinking it brutish, she offered my father an ultimatum: Shorten the name to Heidings, or marriage would be off the table. Begrudgingly, my father obliged, and so “Heidings” was born. Only 23 people worldwide have this last name, all residing in the United States (Forebears). 

The final component of my trio of names is the one I most frequently overlook: my middle name, Matthew, which my parents gave me if I ever became famous and did not like the distinctiveness of Heidings. This reason seemed paradoxical to me—if I were ever famous, I would want a unique name to differentiate myself! 

Ultimately, I always want to be called Owen Heidings. I keep the history behind my last name close to me, and whenever I use it, I feel I am representing my ancestors who also bore the name (or, at least, a version of it!).