What is in a name?
What is in a name?
William Shakespeare put that question into the mouth of his tragic figure Juliet Capulet:
“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Given where I’m going with this, no, I’m not equating myself with Shakespeare or any of his characters.
In fact, my point here is, my own name.
As I’ve told people for decades, Patrick M. Cloonan looks good on paychecks.
And I am honored to be a namesake of Ireland’s patron saint, whose feast day is marked this week (actually, I think the anniversary of his death day in 461).
But I’ve gone back and forth in bylines from Patrick Cloonan to Pat Cloonan, and on my last job, editors used both.
(Patrick was the name I regularly used over 16 years at my home base in McKeesport, a choice an editor made early in my tenure, but Pat turned up frequently in later years when my stories were being used or shared with sister publications elsewhere in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.)
If all of this sounds crazy, consider that I had a nickname as a youngster that reflected the fact that I was the namesake of my late paternal grandfather. At family reunions, I still hear that name.
Before joining the Herald-Standard, I had returned to a previous vocation as a radio public affairs host. I’m Pat Cloonan to listeners of four stations every Sunday morning, on programs recorded at a studio in North Versailles.
And I’m “Uncle Pat” to two generations of younger relatives, most of them in Allegheny County.
“Pat” is nice and simple if the full name at baptism was Patrick. Sometimes the nickname shows up for other reasons.
According to at least one source, getting patted on the face by an older brother produced the nickname Pat for one of this country’s better-known religious broadcasters, Marion Gordon or “Pat” Robertson, founder of Christian Broadcasting Network in Virginia and a presidential candidate in 1988.
Makes sense. Robertson didn’t like his given name. And he wasn’t alone.
Would you go around calling someone named Marion Morrison “the Duke”? You do, actually, if you’re applying that nickname to Mr. Morrison under his longtime stage name, John Wayne.
Others have taken Pat as a name. The late Noriyuki Morita gained that nickname in a sanitarium while recovering from spinal meningitis. Pat Morita went on to gain fame in standup comedy, as well as such roles as the owner of Arnold’s drive-in on “Happy Days” and mentor of youngsters in a series of “Karate Kid” movies.
OK, point made. Happy St. Patrick’s Day. Or St. Pat’s Day or St. Paddy’s Day or however you call it or celebrate it.