KNOW ANYBODY BY THIS NAME?

“And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband.
And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken.” (I Samuel 4:21-22)

In Biblical times, especially in Old Testament times, names had GREAT meaning and significance. Imagine being named “Ichabod”! I’m glad I WASN’T. In I Samuel chapter Phinehas’ wife was SO distraught by the deaths of her husband and father-in-law and by the victory of the Philistines, that she named her newborn son “The glory is departed”, that is, “Ichabod”! Just about everybody in the Old Testament got a name of some significance.

I’ve written before that I have to be very careful to NOT reveal any medical information about anyone from whom I take a phone call on my telephone answering service job, nor any trade secrets of the company with which I’m employed. I DON’T think this piece violates any of that. Among the interesting thing that happens is the NAMES people turn out to have! One of my coworkers today took a call from a person whose first name was “The”. Today I took a call from a young woman. I asked for her name and she quickly stated her first and last name. I was sure I COULDN’T have heard what I THOUGHT I’d heard, so I asked her to slowly spell her name. Her first name was spelled:

P-E-B-B-L-E-S

“Pebbles.”

I guess this was very unprofessional, but I just couldn’t help myself. “I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but you mean like PEBBLES FLINTSTONE ?!”
I asked.

“Yes, I get that all the time,” she said.

She had a Hispanic last name and was very nice.

“Pebbles”. I guess her parents really liked The Flintstones, but it DOES make you wonder what some parents are thinking when they name their kids.

“Pebbles?” “The?”

I can’t help but wonder, is anybody else in America named Pebbles, or is she the only one?

Finally, another experience I had a few days ago was taking a female patient’s information from a medical professional. “Could you spell the last name?” I asked. And the answer came,

B-A-R-I-L

“Baril”. The caller did NOT pronounce it “barrel”, she pronounced it correctly, as "berr - ILL" .

“Believe it or not, that’s MY last name,” I told the medical professional on the phone who was understandably surprised. Baril is an extremely uncommon last name in the U.S.A. I think less than 800 American households have that last name in our country.

Well, you read this blog so you know a “Baril” in one way or another, but does anybody else know a “Pebbles” or a “The” for that matter?!