Family Names and the Occasional Curve Ball

   Back in the late nineties, I was visiting relatives in South Carolina when I got a phone call that my paternal grandmother, Irene, had fallen and was taken to the hospital. Nothing was broken, but they had decided to admit her for observation. My wife and I left our kids with my mother and headed off to the hospital.

   We went into the hospital and inquired about patient, Irene Alexander (she had remarried after my paternal grandfather's untimely death), and the lady at the information counter dutifully checked her list.

   "I'm sorry, we haven't admitted a Irene Alexander."

   "How about Irene Tate?"

   "No, I'm sorry. I don't have an Irene Tate either."

   Just as I start to think that I'm going to have to make a break for it and start checking every room in the place for that old woman, my sister comes through the door and heads my way. I tell her that they don't have our grandmother listed as Irene Tate or Irene Alexander and I'm at a loss as to what else it could be.

   My sister says, "That's not her given name."

   She asks the lady, "Did you admit a Lenard Tate or Lenard Alexander?"

   She says, "Yes, we did. He's on the 3rd floor."

   We head off to the elevator banks and I ask my sister to explain. Apparently, Grandma Irene's father had four girls in a row, so my grandmother being the fifth girl received a boy name and her next youngest sister, Otis, got stuck with one as well. I guess great grandfather Gilstrap figured if he wasn't going to have boys, he was, by George, going to name some of them that way. lol

   So keep in mind that sometimes the names used during family get-togethers are not necessarily the names that show up on their birth certificate or at hospital check-in.

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