If you’ve ever been in my parents’ house, you’ve probably seen this portrait on their wall; if you’ve ever met my grandfather you’ve probably heard about this guy. Jerzy Samson, proud forefather of our family, guaranteed us a place in the Polish Nobility, and if it weren’t for those pesky Bolsheviks, we still would have had the dough to go along with the title (or at least the land). If it weren’t for the Russian mafia, we’d still have this original portrait**.
We’re pretty settled on naming our son after this man. Not Jerzy (though it is my father’s name–George, in English), but Samson. If you’re in the know, you know the last name that will go with it, and you’ll have to agree it’s a strong name. Not to mention the fact that it will need no translation for Polish or English-speaking relatives. I also enjoy that it will fuel further rumours that my family actually comes from a long line of closeted Jews.
Peanut will also be getting my last name as a quasi-middle name for legal purposes–sans hyphen. Now the question: do we stick a middle name in there that Peanut can actually use when he becomes a famous writer, bringing the total number of names to four?
* Fooled you. This post should actually be called Placeholder, Part 2!
** If anyone can spare $20,000USD, I can apparently buy it back. It would make a nice Father’s Day gift, don’t you think?
May 21, 2009 at 7:27 pm
I totally remember that portrait!
That name, Samson ******* just kicked me in the teeth. Love it. You are concerned about the several names … my cousin has a baby boy that she a) gave the first name of Samuel, b) added my grandad’s name, her dad’s name, and baby daddy’s dad’s name, and c) a hyphenated last name. Yeah, I know. Four names – doable. Six would be much, especially if you choose monikers such as Valentino and DeCourcy. My kid is going to have the longest last name in history……..
May 21, 2009 at 8:51 pm
Great name! Good thing you didn’t go for something less translatable between the cultures, like Deuteronomy or Przemek
Isn’t there some sort of reclamation process you can go through to get the painting back? Why do you have to buy it back if it was taken from your family?
Then again, there are many stories like yours. Ours has to do with land lost in the south west, but that may also have had something to do with drunken bets gone horribly wrong.
Anyway, congratulations to you both!