A Rose by Any Other Name

My name has been a source of conflict in my life since my first day at kindergarten.



When I was born, my parents decided to name me Steven Colligan Sonnier, Jr., after my father. In order to avoid confusion at home they decided to call me "Luke."



On the day that I was enrolled in school, my parents told the teacher to call me Steven, seeing that was my actual name. And so from that moment on I was called Steven at school, but I was called "Luke" at home. Very confusing for a five year old kid.



Then, in the fifth grade, my parents took me out of public school and put me in a private catholic school. On my first day at my new school, I introduced myself as Luke and have been Luke ever since.



I do run into problems occasionally because my Social Security card, driver's license, birth certificate, and everything official list my name as Steven. These problems are never major, but people come away sometimes a little confused and thinking my family is a little strange. It was always weird when starting a new semester at school, and is now weird every time I start a new job. Normally when you ask someone to call you something other than your name it is either a shortened and traditional nickname (e.g. Bob for Robert, Pat for Patrick, Sam for Samantha) or your middle name. Over the years, when people have asked why I am called Luke, and I tell them that it is not my middle name, I have just had to shrug it off without an explanation.



I've had to do a lot of research in the form of asking multiple family members several times in order to determine the origin of the nickname "Luke," and why it was chosen. This is what I have come up with:



My grandfather, Edward Sonnier, was a somewhat stubborn man. At one point in his lifetime, he decided that he wanted to be called "Frank" and that was all there was to it. He went so far as to have it engraved on the interior band of his high school graduation ring. That kind of stubborn.



Well, when my Dad was growing up, my grandfather called him "Luke" even though his name is Steven. This nickname stuck for a while but never really took. This is why the name "Luke" was chosen as my nickname at home which would eliminate the problem of my Dad and I both responding when someone called the name Steven.



But where did my grandfather come up with the name "Luke?" Why that name?



It seems that my grandfather Edward was very fond of the author Luke Short



Luke Short wrote western pulp fiction novels that may or may not have been popular, I don't know for sure, but I think they were. I do know that Bob Dylan liked them, as he mentions the author in his new memoir.



The name Luke Short is actually a pen name used by the author Fred Glidden. Glidden took the name from an actual man who was a gambler and gunfighter in the wild west shortly after the Civil War. The real Luke Short was actually a friend of Wyatt Earp, who you all may be familiar with after seeing the movie Tombstone (starring Kurt Russell,) or Wyatt Earp (starring Kevin Costner.)



Here is a quote from Wayne Short's biography of Luke Short, which is currently the recommended reading I have listed on the sidebar. With this quote I hope to prove that the man who is my namesake was pretty cool:

"Luke Short was grabbed from behind and pulled off the boardwalk in front of the Oriental Saloon. He whirled and saw Charlie Storms beginning to draw. Luke pulled his short barreled Colt and fired. The .45 caliber bullet slammed into Storms' heart, blew him backwards, and set his shirt afire. Luke shot him again as he went down.

He stood there a moment looking down at Storms, then turned to Masterson. "You sure as hell pick some of the damnedest people for friends, Bat!"



Luke Short, Tombstone, Arizona Territory Feb. 25, 1881

Kind of cool huh?



So, that is why my name is Steven and I will always prefer to be called Luke.