What's In A Name?
To dot or not to dot? That is the question....
Since it seems like a week for Silly Season columns, today I thought we'd examine an editorial quandary we've been faced with. Because the Republican vice-presidential candidate presents us with a challenge. He would now prefer to be known as simply: "JD Vance" -- sans punctuation, in other words. So do we respect his wishes or continue (as we started doing when we first wrote his name) with our standard style-guide form: "J.D. Vance"?
We start with a fun bit of grammatical/presidential history. There is one past president for whom the strictly-correct way of writing his name omits the period: Harry S Truman. There's a simple reason for this, even if it is somewhat unusual -- Truman had no real middle name. The "S" doesn't stand for anything, it is his legal middle name. The period after people's initials is like an apostrophe in a contraction -- it signifies "some letters were removed here," so when there are no missing letters, there should be no period (I had to refrain from finishing that sentence with: "should be no period... period!" but even in Silly Season we have to maintain some sort of decorum here... ahem...).
Technically speaking, "JD" would be wrong according to the basic rule. But Vance's name has been more fluid than most over the course of his life. He was born James Donald Bowman. After his mother divorced and remarried, his name was changed to James David Hamel. When he graduated from Yale he legally changed his last name to match the grandparents who largely raised him, and thus became James David Vance. This wouldn't be unprecedented, as America has already had two modern presidents who served under names different than their birth name, for similar reasons: (William Jefferson Clinton, né William Jefferson Blythe III; and Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr., né Leslie Lynch King Jr.). So as I said, such name changes are not some new sort of thing in politics (indeed, going back to earlier and rather infamous examples, Vladimir Ulyanov was Lenin's birth name, while Ioseb Jughashvili was Stalin's). Identities can change, over time, and usually history just rolls with the changes and accepts the new monikers.
I should also add: "...even when they're grammatically incorrect." We all called John Edward Bush "Jeb" even though they were actually his initials (not his name) -- and therefore he should have been called "JEB" at the very least (if not "J.E.B."). And "Jeb Bush" is kind of redundant, in the same way "A.T.M. machine" is redundant. But we accepted his quirky nickname as he capitalized it.
Even capitalization can be optional, as fans of e.e. cummings might point out (or, to be fair, "E.E. Cummings," as it's still questionable whether the non-standard lowercase version of his name was his own preference or merely that of his publishers).
Some people prefer to be known merely by their initials, which has a certain pretentious cachet to it (in the same way single-named artists such as Cher or Bono stake out their identity). The Kennedy brothers are still known as "J.F.K." and "R.F.K." -- and this even spilled over to John F.'s successor, L.B.J. Some even spell such letters out, although calling Vance "Jaydee" hasn't caught on much yet. This is usually up to the person in question, although at times others will influence things (late-night host Jimmy Kimmel always refers to Donald J. Trump Junior as "Dee-Jay-Tee-Jay" which has a certain lilt to it, but doesn't seem to have generally caught on).
There's even a question about spacing -- some strict style guides mandate that a space should be inserted between people's initials ("J. D. Vance" rather than "J.D. Vance") and we do occasionally use this style ourselves, but we have to admit our usage is somewhat intermittent (read this as "when we remember to," in actuality).
But in the end we have to return to the basic rule of thumb: people get to be called pretty much whatever they want to. Which can change, over time. In his book Hillbilly Elegy Vance even writes it out, removing all doubt as to the way he preferred it then: "like jay-dot-dee-dot" -- but he has apparently moved on to dotlessness now. And so editorially we will follow, non-standard or not. Henceforth, on these pages, he shall be known by his preferred nomenclature: "JD Vance."
Until he decides to change it again, at any rate.
-- Chris Weigant
Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant
Because the Republican vice-presidential candidate presents us with a challenge. He would now prefer to be known as simply: "JD Vance" -- sans punctuation, in other words.
So let me get this straight. This inveterate asshole who was born James Donald Bowman and then changed his name to James David Bowman because he hated the name Donald and then changed his name to James David Hamil when he got adopted and then changed it again to James David Vance when he got married now wants to change his dang name and everyone else to ignore his punctuation?
So do we respect his wishes or continue (as we started doing when we first wrote his name) with our standard style-guide form: "J.D. Vance"?
Screw that "respect his wishes" absolute hypocritical bullshit. The shapeshifting asshole who wants to allow the states to regulate women's reproductive rights does NOT get to dictate the regulation of anyone's periods, not even his own.
I have spoken. :)
Sounds like a wishy washy flip flopper to me. Changes his name like he changes his politics. but considering his current politics on trans issues maybe we should stick with his birth name until he flips to something else...
Some people prefer to be known merely by their initials, which has a certain pretentious cachet to it (in the same way single-named artists such as Cher or Bono stake out their identity).
U2 cute by half using Cher and Bono in the same sentence. ;)
Kick
1
You’re in fine form this evening!
MtnCaddy
4
You’re in fine form this evening!
Thank you... but...
Full Disclosure: I thought about posting the obvious reason for the shapeshifting Bowman/Hamel/Vance's wishing to refer to himself as "JD," but I reasoned it might offend somebody... so let's find out.
The shapeshifting candidate heretofore known as "J.D. Vance" kindly requests his name reflect his newest character and therefore seeks the extrication of his tiny little balls so that his written epithet is a visual representation of who he has become: JD has got no balls.
Too much? :)
I in no sense of the word am offended.
:D
Republicans lodge last-ditch protest against marijuana rescheduling
They want to take your weed. They want to take your porn. They want to leave you only with Bible study.
Vote for freedom, vote for fun, Vote Democrat.
MtnCaddy
6
I in no sense of the word am offended.
:D
So what would it take? Heh. Just kidding. :)
Bashi,
Vote for freedom, vote for fun, Vote Democrat.
I love it!
Kick
6
I go from mild to wild so I really don’t know what it would take. But I’m willing to explore the topic with your (in)kind assistance.
I am personally invested in this issue.
I was born Joshua Michael Eisenstein, changed it legally when I was 23 to Joshua Michael Lynn Ebsworth Eisenstein (to honor my stepdad after his father Lynn Ebsworth passed), and now go by Lynn or JL. I cringe a little whenever somebody who didn't know me before grad school calls me "josh"
plus, the DMV still doesn't have it right, and that's just too much trouble to mess with.
~J.M.L.E.E.?
nypoet22
Allow me to re-offer my past apology for referring to you as “Joshua” on here. I was not aware of the reason for your displeasure with my calling you by that name. I hope that I was not disrespectful or seemed insincere with my apology at the time. Who we identify as matters and should be respected.
-R
Russ, I think Joshua cringed when you called him 'Josh' ... well, to be honest, he did more than cringe but we all have those days.
As the saying goes, call me anything you want but late for dinner!
Geez, I hope Joshua isn't offended by being called 'Joshua'!?
Maybe it's best just to go with whatever the username is ... no matter how long we've been interacting??
@russ/liz,
I do prefer Lynn or JL, but Joshua is perfectly fine. late for supper is also perfectly fine. i'm just a rebel that way.
:)
@JFC,
exactly. although he's doing it less artfully than most, he's just practicing identity politics; the transparent goal is to convince his audience of African-Americans that Kamala is "not really black," and therefore not worthy of their vote.
whoops, that was meant to go in Friday's column. I had to copy-paste due to the insane security time-out, and was directed to thursday's column.
nypoet22
11
I agree with Russ. You should definitely make your own choices... as should we all. If I ever referred to you as "that name I shall not repeat," it was Liz's fault. Just kidding.
My commentary on JD Vance is more indicative of the fact that he and his Party of big government hypocrites seem to want to control every aspect of our lives while asking to be respected for their own choices. Screw that.
The vast majority of Americans see right through a phony baloney like JD Vance who obviously self-sacrificed his tiny cojones in favor of his political ambition. Screw that too. :)
JL,
I do prefer Lynn or JL, but Joshua is perfectly fine. late for supper is also perfectly fine. i'm just a rebel that way. :)
LizK
:-)