What's in a Name?

       "What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet." 

                                      William Shakespeare

        Every one of our missionaries is individual and special, but that doesn't go for at least some of their names. For instance, as of Tuesday, October 9th, we had:

         two Elder Evans' - Zachary and Taylor, (and we had another that went home last Transfer)

         three Elder Johnsons - Bryce, Tagj, and Tyler, (we had four at one point)

         three Elder Andersons - Nathan, Joshua, and Conner, 

         three missionaries with the last name of Olsen - Elder Glen Olsen, and Elder and Sister Olsen, 

         three Elder Gardners - DeVere, Tyler, and Darrell (and we had a Hermana Gardner that went home recently), 

         two Elders by the last name of Cox - Jordan and Stephen, 

         two Elder Woods- Korey and Jonathan, 

         until recently two Elder Warners, 

         an Elder Earl and a Sister Earl, 

         an Elder Haws and an Elder Hawes, 

         an Elder Frye and an Elder Fry,  

         and an Elder Nielsen and an Elder Nielson.

Three of the four Johnsons that we had in the mission
earlier this year.  Elder Bryce Johnson on the left is still here
but the other two have now gone home.

The two Elder Warners
The one on the right didn't especially appreciate
that some mail to him was addressed to: The Old Elder Warner  :)

It reminds me of the Dr. Suess story called "Too Many Daves" which for my own amusement I've included below:

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave

Had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave?

Well, she did. And that wasn't a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one, and calls out "Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!" she doesn't get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!

This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves'
As you can imagine, with so many Daves.
And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn.
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O'Gravel Balloon Face.

(the list goes on and on with names until it ends with: )
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate...

But she didn't do it. And now it's too late.

        So none of this is all that earth-shaking in the big picture, but it does make things a bit more challenging when a letter or card arrives at the MIssion Office addressed to Elder Wood or Elder Cox, or whomever, and we don't know which one, hence the request that family and friends include their missionary's first name on the envelope.  

         Since we don't go by first names here in the mission, we most often refer to multiply-named missionaries by adding their first initial, which works well, except in the cases of Elder T. Johnson and Elder D. Gardner. You will note that there are now two each with those initials. Aaaaargh!  And what about those last names that are supposedly the most common, like Jones and Smith? We have only one of the former and the sole possessor of the latter just left for home.  Go figure.

        Still, for the most part we've figured out who is who and in the end haven't made too many mistakes - No one has been sent home when they just got here, has been assigned to the wrong companion, or been told they don't know how to spell their own name (Fry/Frye, Haws/Hawes), though it is true that in the Owensboro Area there have been three Elder Andersons in a row... Nobody's perfect.

       (By the way, to allay your concern, we also have other missionaries with the same last name, but since they happen to be married to each other, with one being a President or Elder and the other a Sister, for some reason not too many people mix them up...)