The last few weeks, Nate’s been somewhat sensitive and tearful at night. He’s a pretty stoic guy so I know something’s bothering him. After some gentle prying when he’s at his sleepiest, he finally blurts it out. Turns out some kids in his class have been making fun of his name… or rather, the length of his name. Apparently having a nine-letter name like Nathaniel is just asking for second-grade ridicule.
As the offspring of Jaimie PeePee and James Fucillo effs his pillow… I’m doing my best to empathize. I mean Nate has a lot of things going for him. If the length of his name is the worst of it, I’m really kind of jealous.
So Nate and I start counting letters in people’s names and eureka– Cristiano Ronaldo has exactly the same number of letters in his name: sixteen. The best soccer player in the world has a nine-letter first name? Take that second grade.
Nate was really struggling with what he should be for Halloween, until we stumbled upon his name twin. One full home game Ronaldo Juventus kit from Amazon and sim, we’re in business.
The irony in all this? The primary name-heckling culprit? A boy named Ronaldo.