Names are kind of a big deal in the news business, and here at Summerville Communications we do our best to pay attention to names.
With all the talk about fake news, it’s important to be as transparent as possible, so readers understand where the news they read every day is coming from.
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| David B. Kennard Twitter.com@davidbkennard. |
At the top of most news stories you’ll see what is called a “byline.” That is the “line” of text that tells reader who the story is written “by” -- the by line. I’ve heard some editors also refer to this as the “blame line,” which is kind of self-explanatory.
Most readers look right past the byline, but reporters take a bit of pride in having their names at the top of a story. Most editors are less concerned with who wrote the story and more concerned that it’s spelled correctly.
Names can be tricky things in this businesses, mostly because if a name is spelled wrong in the byline or in the story itself, someone -- usually me -- is going to hear about it.
We do our best to get things -- especially names -- perfect every day, but we occasionally screw up. Believe me, it’s as embarrassing to me as anyone, and we do our best to correct the error as soon as we learn about our mistake.
Which is kind of why my number three child has two middle names. Let me explain.
Like most parents, it took quite a bit of discussion to come up with a name for each of our children, but with Noah we had a hard time. Yes, we bought the books and looked at the most popular baby names online and listened to friends and grandparents, but in the end settled on Thomas John Kennard. Thomas came from my wife’s grandfather and John was my father’s name.
When the boy arrived, we decided Thomas didn’t fit. In some kind of inspiration that probably came from all the debating during the previous nine months, she said, “How about Noah?”
The editor in me quickly agreed - mostly because it’s easy to spell. I mean how many ways can you screw up four letters? I also figured that if Noah was too hard to remember, I could always call him T.J. for short. The funny thing is T.J. never really stuck and now he goes by simply “T” around the house; as in, “T, go take the garbage out.” Or, “T, get dressed for church.”
After we settled on Noah, we had to figure out how to break the news to one side of the family or the other that we were dropping their name from our newborn son.
To avoid the calamity, we simply kept all the names and now his middle name is Thomas John.
There have been a few problems of course. Many forms asking for a “full name” have a spot for only one middle name. If he ever becomes a writer -- which I suspect won’t happen based on his love of math and science -- he’ll have a difficult time fitting everything into a byline.
My maternal grandparents Bert and Dorothy Bourne had just one child. Because my mother is an only child, the Bourne name would have ended with her, so my parents gave me - their oldest son -- the name as a middle name.
My wife and I passed the “Bourne identity” on to our oldest son just to keep it alive a little while longer. Although around the house he is known as Scooter or sometimes Scoot.
My grandmother Dorothy (who grew up in Kansas and saw her fair share of tornadoes and scarecrows) was known as Girly by everyone in her tiny wheat farming town.
Grandma Girly thought it was odd that my wife had a funny name as well. My wife’s parents named her Susan, but it was changed to Suesan (with an e) sometime in her late teens. I call her Sue most of the time anyway so the spelling kind of makes sense. She likes to say that without the “e” it would be pronounced, “Sussen.”
My mother, Patricia, was Patty or Pat, and my father, John Robert (who I always said was the man with two first names) was Jack. My older sister’s husband’s name is Robert Gary Howard (the man with three first names).
This whole name game is fun to play except when I mess one up. For instance, I’m forever switching the names of Roger Lee with Rob Gantt - who write sports here. (“My name’s Rob, that’s Roger over there.”)
Note to Roger and Rob: I am sorry. You are both great.
At least I’ve not screwed up their bylines yet.
David Kennard is the executive editor of Summerville Communications, which publishes the Berkeley Independent, Goose Creek Gazette and Summerville Journal Scene. Contact him at dkennard@journalscene.com or 843-873-9424. Follow him on Twitter @davidbkennard.
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