WANNAMAKER

The other night at Mom's house, Dan asked Anthony the origin of the last name "See," which started a casual little conversation about name origins. My mom nonchallantly mentioned that her maiden name, "Wann," was most likely shortened from "Wannamaker."

I felt blind-sided. I'm sure no one has ever told me that before. For some reason I was left reeling from this info, and it keeps bouncing around in my head. I remember finding out when I was a teen that "Kovac" was Americanized by dropping the "h" from the end, so it was originally "Kovach." That seemed like stunning, fascinating news at the time. But the difference between "Wann," and "Wannamaker" is even BIGGER. WTF?!

The name "Wann" always seemed so unusual and interesting. "Wannamaker" is pretty cool, too, though. I know this isn't as weird as finding out you were adopted, or that your father isn't really your biological father or something, but names are IMPORTANT. I just can't believe nobody ever thought to mention this before!

So I actually come from the Slovak "Kovach" family, and the French/American Indian/etc "Wannamaker" family. Not sure how this affects my life, but I'm sure it's important.