QotD: Middle Name

This is from the English QotD (we went with a different one for the Japanese one, since we don't usually have middle names in Japan), but my middle name is Don.

What's your middle name?  Is there a story or history behind it?

Seriously, Don is my middle name. . .the story behind it.  Back in 1972, my folks had been in the US for about four years and their second child was on the way.  Their first was a boy, so they seriously hoped that their second would be a girl, so their soon to be born child, they had decided on the decidedly un-Japanese name: Joan.  Christmas came around and my brother was born and they decided to give him the name John instead.  They handed over the first name giving rights to my maternal grandfather who decided on Yuji (祐自), from the biblical quote "God helps those who helps themselves (it might not be biblical, I think Zeus felt the same way)."  Never mind that neither my parents or grandparents were or are Christian.  My family moved back to Japan and a year or so later, my parents had an accident and number three was on the way.  They gave up on name giving completely for me and so my grandfather decided upon Daisuke (大輔) as I was a premie and the doctors were not giving me much of a chance of making it far, so my grandfather decided to at least give me an impressive sounding name.

I made it. . .fast forward to a few years later when the family moved back to Seattle for a year.  I was in kindergarden then and I noticed that my brother was being called John by everyone instead of Yuji and all my classmates were butchering my name.  Upon going home, I demanded to know why he had a middle name and I didn't, and I found out the reasons for the disparity and decided to do what four year olds do best. . .sulk.  Later on, we were at the house of the Wakazuru's, a Nikkei family who happened to be on the same plane as my parents when my family first flew to the US (when they were younger than I am right now. . .woah), the Wakazurus kind of adopted my parents and helped them through the first few rough years in the US.  Aunt Mutsu heard the story about the middle names and proclaimed,"how about Don?"  I didn't really respond to her then, but the next day at kindergarden I was walking around saying,"hey, my name IS DON!" And for the next couple of years everyone called me Don, until I went back to Daisuke when I moved back to Japan.  I later gave up Daisuke when I moved back to the States and started using Dice (some people find Dice-que hard to pronounce).  These days, the only people that call me Don are the Wakazurus, but I have my middle name is on my business card.  The added bonus is that with a name like Daisuke Don Horie, I sound like I own a large ranch in Southern California or Spain.

Mexican Horse

Most people receive their names at birth, I've always felt doubly blessed that I received the name Don right when I was starting to realize the existance of my existance.