One of the things that happens when your name is unusual or has some body-part associated with it – you relive insanely stupid comments about your name. And with a name like “Dickert”, trust me – it can be a sad commentary from people posing as adults.
Just read some of the comments on news sites when your name is used, and I find myself “rolling with laughter” (yeah, right!). I have not heard commentary like that since I was, oh….maybe five, no ten years old.
And then, to add to the story, it turns out the origin of my surname is one that is also quite amusing in its original tongue.
The Fatty
Years ago, when I was traveling Europe, I decided to take a bike ride around the city of Amsterdam. As I caught up with my guide, he asked us our names, and I answered him. Suddenly, he snickered.
“What’s wrong?”, I asked.
“Do you know the meaning of your surname?”
“No. I never knew it. What does it mean?”
“It means, how do you say it…’fatty’!”
So, not only does my surname have a childish tickle in the US, but it also has an amusing meaning in the Netherlands (where I later learned about De Jonge Dikkert, one of the oldest windmills and restaurants near Amsterdam) – thanks Napoleon!
And, just by searching the web, I learned that the surname has an interesting history in the Jewish faith as well (not as funny, but somewhat storied as being a “stout and thickset man”):
This surname of DICKERT is of three fold origin.
It was a German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) nickname for a stout and thickset man, originally derived from the Old German word DICKI.
It was also a topographic name for someone who lived by a thicket or patch of thickly grown undergrowth and finally it was a baptismal name meaning ‘the son of Richard, which was derived from the Old German ‘Ricard’ a font name meaning powerful and brave.
The name was introduced into England by the Normans during the Norman Conquest of 1066, and was usually Latinized as Ricardus in medieval documents.
Why don’t you just change it?
Funnily enough, almost everyone in my family has changed their surname. My step-mom changed her name back to her maiden one, my brother prior to finishing law school changed his to a variant and my sister – well, I assume once she marries, she will shed the surname as quickly as she can.
And then, it turns out, my father’s original surname was not Dickert – he changed his last name when his mother remarried, around the age of 17. So, he did not get to enjoy the childish antics that can be derived from such an “amusing” name.
But, for myself? I have always said I would change my name when I got married.
I have grown into both of my names – I was born with the name “Sanford” but had a nickname until I was 11 or 12 and reclaimed “ownership” of my first name. I have been proud of my surname because it brought me close to my grandfather, for whom the name is from – even well after he died. My father did take the name as his own, and maybe that is part of it – as the eldest son, the responsibility felt appropriate.
I have had friends who have changed their last name/surname – but have always heard that they often have to explain “why” they changed their name. Did the change it to get out of debt? Are they running away from a bad decision made in a former life? And so on.
Not sure what will happen when I get married. But I rarely put much thought into the issue anymore – I am now more amused than anything, because the name is distinctive and certainly a conversation starter…at least in some circles.
What do you think?
