I am not unique

For much of my life, I took some pride in my first name ‘Brian’. When I was growing up, I recall encountering only one other ‘Brian’. When I watched television or films, or read books or magazines, ‘Brian’ was a name that was rarely used. When I entered university and met more people and started to travel more outside of my limited areas, ‘Brian’s became a bit more common. It was not until I moved to Toronto and then some time later to the United States, that I began encountering more ‘Brian’s in person and in general through overhearing conversations. In media, ‘Brian’ as a character name became more frequent and not just as a supporting character either. In the beginning, I actually felt proud when a main character had ‘Brian’ as his first name though that novelty has since worn off. It appeared that around the time I was born, ‘Brian’ as a name became more popular and remained so for several years but has declined recently as a choice in favor of trendier names. Still, a generation (ages 30-42 currently) exists that is now moving into positions of influence so ‘Brian’ will be a name that will be heard more often.

My last name of ‘Leon’ has always been a source of pride for me. I though that the ‘Leon’ name was the property of a chosen few, a few pockets scattered throughout North America and France. Apparently, as it appears that Leon, a name of Spanish and French origins, is quite prevalent across many demographic groups. Not as common as ‘Smith’ mind you, but not a name that is dying out anytime soon either. For much my recent life, when I introduce myself, I pronounced my name as ‘Lee-ON’ which most people would pronounce it in North America but I rather prefer to pronounce it as ‘LE-on’ with a distinct nasal pronunciation on the last syllable as the French would pronounce it. Many people especially in the South of the United States have troubles pronouncing it that way so to make things easier, I just let them pronounce it to the way they are accustomed.

Still, when you put my name together, ‘Brian Leon’, I though that was a pretty much rare combination, shared maybe a couple of people. Well, no. A Google search on name will bring up a:

• vice-president of a Smoothie company in Ontario
• an engineer professor at USC in California
• building contractor also in California
• an editor of the Leto High School student newspaper in Tampa, Florida
• and a furniture designer and store owner also in California
  (so many ‘Brian Leon’s in California, who knew?)

In fact, I do not show up anywhere in the Google lists for the first 100 or so hits. I may have to do some advertising to boost my Google popularity.

So my name is not unique in this world. Not any part of it. But I take pride in my name for it is a good name, a pleasing sounding name. My mother has named me well and she would probably say to me that even if my name is not unique, I am definitely one of a kind.