My name is Matthew. This name has been in use for hundreds of years and was in use as far back as biblical times because Matthew is the name of one of Jesus's 12 apostles in the bible. This makes sense considering Matthew means' "Gift of God." It was also a popular name in medieval times.
Matthew is and has been a very popular name in the United States. At the year of my birth, Matthew was the third most popular name in the United States. From 1981 to 2007, Matthew was one of the top five names. Because of how popular my name is, I have met numerous other people who have the same name as me. This has resulted in quite a few situations where I have mistaken people talking or calling out to another person as trying to talk to me. This, in combination with my introverted personality, has resulted in me assuming in most situations where someone is calling for a Matthew that I am not the one being referred to, so I don't tend to react.
My nickname, Matt, started to take root in fourth grade because of my teacher. At the beginning of the year, she had asked if I had preferred Matt or Matthew, and I said Matthew because I hadn't really been called Matt before. Despite what I told her, she ended up calling me Matt because she had a brother named Matt who she had become accustomed to referring to as Matt. I never corrected her because I didn't really mind; although, at first it was strange to be called by a different name. Soon I noticed that not only was my teacher calling me by this new name, but many of my class mates had also joined in. Eventually I got used to it, and today I go by both names and use them interchangeably.
I think that Anna Quindlen brought up a very good point and that I have found myself in a few situations where I have had a dilemma between being an individual and a part of a whole. One time where I can remember this occurring was during a cross country meet. I had to make the decision to either stay back with the people that my coach told me to pace with or to move forward in the race by myself. If I stayed behind then I would help other members of my team do better, but if I moved forward then I would possibly get a better time. I ended up helping out my fellow team mates because I saw the value in making a small personal sacrifice for the whole of the team.
Your perspective on having a common name is interesting for me, having a much less common one. I've always imagined that it would be frustrating to encounter people with the same name as me very often. Your example of being part of a team as well as an individual left me feeling conflicted simply reading it. I definitely think that you made the right choice to stay back with your teammates, that was a very admirable course of action. Although I'd like to think that I'd do the same, I think that I would have had a hard time in that position. That's a really great example of feeling like two at once,and it helped me to understand that entire concept much better.
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