“YOUR name is Neyo, Sir?” the pretty teller scanned my ID and gave me the eye. Getting my affirmative answer, she nodded and went back to my check, but only after she had a low-toned giggly chat with her seatmate in the counter. “As in Ne-yo the singer?”
Yes, she was referring to that famous namesake of mine, Ne-yo (officially it’s with a hyphen), a young African-American R&B singer and songwriter whose songs have been topping the Billboard charts. He had a successful concert at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City early this year.
Neyo is my legal name as it was written in my birth certificate, though I’m not really sure if it’s original. The hyphenated one’s real name is Shaffer Chimere Smith; he only came out with his showbiz name in 2004. Of course I won’t tell that to the bank tellers. So far, I haven’t met a person dead or living bearing that name. Neo would be close enough but the “Y” made mine different.
Having a unique or unusual first name or having the same name as that of a famous person (like in my case), would sometimes put you on the spot. When the name is original, imaginative and interestingly cool, it invites curiosity as to its origin. And when it has a weird sound and naughty meaning and overly outdated at least in this country (like Damasito or Telesforo), it elicits a giggle if not a lifetime amusement. And any unsual name can also put you in the limelight, and may bring you a spot in the list of world's unusual first names.
Some unusual first names come from name or word combinations, name reverse, modifications from common or outdated names or just plain inventions of fathers who want to be different (read: ego-tripping Dads who are unmindful of the feelings of their children to live with an uncommon, if not horrible, name). My name may be original, but it’s far from interesting or imaginative as Jejomar, Condoleezza, Ginebra Miguela, and Barack.
As part of an assigned essay in school, I asked my father where did he get my first name. He told me that he got it from the name of an African doctor but he couldn’t exacly remember who this guy was. Unconvinced, I theorized that it was originally a “Neo” but for easier pronunciation especially for us Ilocanos who would read that as “Ne-oh,” he might have inserted the Y.
Having such an unusual name has a good side though. New acquaintances will have an easy time recalling my name. I remember when I was in high school, a girl sought me out in our town many months after I met her in a region-wide seminar for campus writers. She was a delegate from a nearby province, and even though she didn’t exactly remember my face, my name stuck on her mind (at least she had one to remember me by). So when she visited our place for some business of her own, she came to meet me in our school.
When the movie The Matrix became popular, topbilled by Keanu Reeves who played the character Neo, my name gained an added appeal. (R&B’s Ne-yo got its name from Neo of the same movie.) Some people, after hearing my name for the first time, would like to confirm, “Neo as in the Matrix guy?” I would answer them: “No, it’s with a Y.” “Maytrix?” (The last one is a joke of course.)
I was already working when I tried for the first time to Google my name. I wanted to find out the identity of that African doctor, and maybe a namesake in some parts of the world. What came out were a “Neyo” as a surname and a “neyo” as a foreign word (I’m not sure if it’s South American or African), still it’s not a first name. I also encountered for the first time Clone Commander Neyo, one of the lesser known Star Wars characters. And yet he’s no living guy.
Two years ago I was stunned by a wayward email in my Yahoo mailbox. It came from an R&B-crazy American teener asking me if my email address belongs to Ne-yo! I replied to her email telling her who I really was, but the girl wasn't convinced. She sent me three more emails after that, pleading me to confirm to her my “un-identity” so that she could tell her friends about me. But I never sent her another reply after the first.
But one thing I hate for having an uncommon name is that people would tend to misspell it or give sound-alikes. When I was asked to give my name for an order slip, those who don’t listen very well, would just write Neo, Leo, Niyo or Nilo. But those who care for accuracy, I was forced to spell my name in front of them. Good enough, it’s only a four-letter name. (What more if my name is Mahershalalhashbaz!)
And did I say I’d never met a living person bearing my name? Well, if that includes anyone from my family, then I am mistaken. There’s really a living person who has exactly the same name as mine and it’s my own doing. He is Neyo Martin, the second of my three children. But I’m sure his name, when he grows up, will no longer so interestingly uncommon nor original as to put him on the spot.
But more than the spelling, etymology or history behind the name, what is important is to effect a good meaning to it. We must strive for an association that reflects our true worth as an individual.
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