In my first blog I told you that me and my brothers have kind of strange names. I have heard my mom and dad tell how they got our names many times. Before Phoenix was born, my parents told his name to anyone who would ask. Nearly 100% of the time it was met with quips and remarks that weren’t necessarily flattering. “Why don’t you name him Topeka! Har Har!” From then on, the names of the next five boys were nearly secret until they were born.
Phoenix around 6 months old.
After my parents had been married for four years, along came Phoenix Rane in 1999. His middle name is a combination of my parents middle names, Jane and Ramon (pronounced like the singular version of the punk band, The Ramones). They thought Rane sounded better than Jamon (Je-mone).
When my dad was growing up, he liked the actor River Phoenix, and that is where they got his first name. It’s probably good that dad wasn’t a big fan of Dudley Moore. Moore Rane might have been an easy target. Although, when Phoenix was little, the youth group kids did call him P-Rane. That’s pretty funny. His most common nickname around the house is Pheege or dad sometimes calls him Pheejix.
Later on dad said a verse in Malachi sounded like a reference to the mythical phoenix bird. Malachi 4:1 talks about a consuming fire. Then the following verse says, “the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in his wings.” Malachi 4:2b (NLT) Yeah… it’s kind of a stretch.
Bronze’s name actually did come from the Bible. In Revelation 1, John sees a vision of Christ and begins to describe Him. In verse 15 John says, “His feet were like polished bronze refined in a furnace” John 1:15a (NLT) So, essentially his name means, “feet of God”. No pressure there! Bronze’s middle name is Maximus. It is a nod to my grandma on my mom’s side whose middle name is Maxine combined with a little Roman flair from my dad’s Italian heritage. Bronze really doesn’t have a nickname, although they called him Bronzey a lot when he was little. Don’t do that to him now though.
Bronze at about 3 months old.
Next is me. I came along 9 years after Bronze. Journey Truth. Mom and dad were just talking about names one night and mom suggested Journey and dad said, “Hey, I had kind of been thinking of that too!” They just liked the sound of Truth as a middle name, so now I get to own it. Sometimes dad calls me JJ. That really makes no sense because there is only one J in my name, but whatever.
This is me around 6 months old.
By the time the triplets came on to the scene, I think my parents had kind of ran out of names. They had one easy name, Louis Ramon, just like dad and grandpa, but the others didn’t come as quickly. We sometimes call Louie Woo-lee.
Giovonni was a name mom and dad had talked about ever since coming up with Phoenix’s name. They had also kicked around Gianni but that one lost out. His middle name is just the initial T. which stands for Papa’s (my grandpa on my mom’s side) name which is Terry. Dad sometimes calls him Vondo.
Rocky’s name took a little longer to come up with. My parents had been in Chicago visiting friends when they met guy named Rocky. After they found out there were triplets on the way, both mom and dad said they liked that name and the rest is history. Rocky’s middle name is Sei (pronounced Say), which is the Italian word for six. Rocky is the 6th child and Rocky VI was the final Rocky movie, just like Rocky would be the final child. His nickname is sometimes Rocket, Rooster or Rocket Rooster.
Me chillin’ with the trips on their first Halloween in 2013. Can you guess who is who?
It has been said that you don’t know how many people you don’t like until you try to come up with baby names. I don’t think that is why they gave us strange names. Dad says that when you have a unique name you are destined to do great things! (No offense to all of the Brian’s, Mike’s and Jeff’s out there…I’m sure you are great too!)
Says the guy named Zaldy Doyungan!
(written from Journey’s perspective by dad…but partially typed by Journey)
Eight's Enough 