Episode #836
February 8, 2025
My father was born Carroll Jewett. Perhaps the name came from an ancestor, George Carroll Jewett.
Carroll did not like his name. It sounded like a girl’s name to him. One day, at age 10, he walked into the living room and told his parents, “I’m Bobby!”
“OK Bobby,” said his mother and that was that.
Some years later Bobby’s mother remarried to Hans Thues. Bobby took on the new last name and began to introduce himself as Robert Thues. Since he had no birth certificate or any other records bearing the name Carroll Jewett, Robert had effectively, officially changed his name.
As a chino wearing, leather jacketed teenager with a pack of Lucky Strikes rolled up in his t-shirt sleeve, Robert was a great fan of James Dean. In late 1940s theater and TV Dean demonstrated the emotional character acting he would become famous for in the movie “Rebel Without a Cause.” Robert identified with the themes of teenage angst, family dysfunction, and the search for identity that James Dean portrayed. Robert added Dean as a middle name.
When my father filled out the enlistment forms to join the Marine Corps he used the name Robert Dean Thues. Similarly, his drivers license, marriage certificate, the deed to his house and my birth certificate bore the name Robert Dean Thues. Carroll Jewett no longer existed.
My given name is Ricki Thomas Thues. I have no lineage to the name Thues, except of a step grandfather, but I like the name. Thues comes from the Latin “deus” which means divine and the Greek Zeus, meaning king.
As a child I was not so fond of Ricki. Though my parents were inspired to name me after entertainment stars like the character Ricky Ricardo and singer Ricky Nelson they chose the feminine form, ending in “i”. Fifth graders are cruel and after much teasing I changed my name to Rick.
Unlike my father, my official name remained Ricki. When I entered Servite High School I was registered as Ricki T Thues. I did quite well in Spanish class and was listed on a plaque in the hallway of the school. My friend and I were reading the plaque when he said to me, “Look at that. You are RickiT… rickety!”
Rickety became my nickname among my best friends. I liked the name. It made up, in a strange way, for the cruelty of my 5th grade classmates.
Now that I am retired and my own man I have begun to use Ricki again. It is my writer’s pen name. I introduce myself as Ricki. This full circle naming was inspired by my father’s will to be the man he wanted to be.
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Nice story Rickety
My brother who was 4 years younger than me was named Carroll. A bunch of clueless 1st graders used to tease me “Ha ha, your brother has a girl’s name”. Now of course we all know Carroll Shelby, the racer who founded the Cobra sports car. And also Carroll O’Conner, who played Archie Bunker.
What a great story, Rick! I had no idea of the complexity of your dad’s and your names.
Rickety it is! You can call me anything but Dani….
Danielle, Danielley, Nelly (my name up until 9th grade), Dee, Elle (the antithesis of Dani)., but not Dani!
there was a bully at my school named Danny Dickey who made fun of me all the time. When I hear Dani, I think of Danny and I don’t like it.
My mother’s name was Dee, short for Deola.
That was very interesting. My mother did the same thing. Her name was Mona Jean and she removed the Mona and was always know as Jean, except for signing legal forms.