I was reading an article recently, Advice From Thomas Jefferson, that included the letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote to his namesake with words of wisdom and I felt compelled to write about the half century journey with my own name. 

Growing up, my Uncle John, my dad’s brother, would sing to me, “My name is Michael, I got a nickel, I got a nickel, shiny and new, I’m gonna buy me all kinds of candy, that’s what I’m gonna do.” It brings back good memories and is etched in my brain for all eternity. It was either that or “Michael Row the Boat Ashore”, which I equally adored, but only more so as I got older. It wasn’t as catchy-a-tune as a child but I did learn in later years that it was the number one song in 1961, written about slaves rowing to freedom while asking the Archangel Michael to protect them. Wow.

For the most part, I can’t carry a tune, but it didn’t stop me from writing songs for my grandkids and singing to them. My granddaughter, Maylena, falls asleep every single solitary time I sing her song to her, “Bigger than a Bee”, and those are the sweetest moments that I treasure so much.

But, it wasn’t always easy “having a boy name”. In High School I got called out of class so many times to meet with Army recruits because they thought I was male until I finally decided to just change the spelling of my name to something more feminine. Immediately following High School I legally changed my name to “Mychal”, much to the chagrin of my mom and also her cousin, Michael Larsen, the wonderful man I’m named after. Honestly, he never called me by my given name anyway, but simply called me “Namesake”, or sometimes in later years, “Makasa” after a crystal gift bowl, but that’s another story for another day. 

Moving ahead a few decades, when my husband and I traveled to Israel just a few years ago, I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy it. I contribute that in large part to the fact that nobody raised an eyebrow when I said my name was Michael and didn’t follow that up with, “Are you sure you don’t mean Michelle?” because Michal, the first wife of David and daughter of King Saul in the book of Samuel, was credited with making a masculine name feminine in Israel, hayu masi, Michal! 

In reflection, it occurred to me how given names are an incredibly important part of our identity that carry deep meaning to people and places and although it may have taken a half a century, I can truly say I’m honored to be named Michael.