Mononymous

Is there a term for when people go by a single name? Yes. A mononymous person is an individual who is known and addressed by a mononym, or "single name."

In the West, mononymity, as well as its use by royals in conjunction with titles, has been primarily a privilege of famous persons such as prominent writers, artists, entertainers, musicians and sportsmen.  ~ Wikipedia

 So, where did this come from? Today in Sacrament Meeting during the ward business, Tim Golightly, the counselor in the bishopric who was conducting, released a whole list of people, using both first & last names. When he came to Don-Mikel, he didn't use a last name, he just said his first name. Well, ok, Don-Mike's name is hyphenated, but that's what he goes by, so it is a single name.

I don't know how many people noticed, but Del Rumsey told Don & I. I loved it. Not that he was released from the Primary, because he has loved teaching the Valiant Boys for the last several years. Actually, he was teaching Valiant Boys in 2007, because I taught Valiant Girls & he taught the boys. I was released when I started having chemo in '07.

When we lived in Grace, Idaho, the boys were on a T-ball team. Nick would sit out in the outfield & pick grass or roll around. Don-Mike got to play bases. I remember in one game he was playing 2nd base. We were playing a team from Soda Springs. At one point in the game, a boy from the opposing team was on 2nd base. A coach from the opposing team was yelling, "Run, Don Michael, run!" So, Don-Mike started running, as did the boy on 2nd base. We had 2 little blond boys running hard for 3rd base. The coach from Grace yelled, "Stop, Don-Mikel, stop!" They both stopped. Needless to say, the boy from Soda who was running the bases got out.

Afterward, a lady came up to me very angry. How dare I name my son Don-Michael? Ummm, his father's name is Don & his uncle's name is Mike. I didn't want to go into any detail that Michael really wasn't because of his uncle Mike. I figured it wasn't any of her business. I asked why her grandson was Don Michael. It seems his father was Don & his grandfather was Michael. Mike McCulloch was the head of Monsanto at the time.

After the game, a cluster of ladies from Grace was standing out on the field laughing about how unusual it was for 2 little boys with the same name on opposing teams. One of the children was standing there & he said, "What's so unusual about that? We have 3 Nicholas'." Which, of course, made us laugh harder. How often do you find 2 children with the same double first name?