I was named after Rod Stewart from the popular beat combo The Faces. However, my dad decided that Stewart rather than Rod would be a more appropriate name. I am inclined to agree with him.
I’ve often thought that if I had children, I’d want to name them after a literary character. There’s some sort of romantic part of me that thinks entwining your child’s name with that of a literary character will somehow magically endow them with all the good qualities of that character or some sort of cool mystique. However, unfortunately Atticus does not go well with my surname.
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| The Royal Me |
I imagine that they would feel some sort of attachment to the book that they might otherwise not feel, and therefore live their life virtuously and treat the literary character as a role model. Having said this, the first time I had consciously sat down to listen to Rod Stewart’s music was the start of last year and I imagine my child would be as lazy as me and not get around to learning about their namesake until they are in their 30s.
Stewart can also be spelt (incorrectly) as Stuart. Unfortunately the misspelling is also the more common name. When my brother was considering calling his new born child Emaline, my dad criticised him for thinking about giving his child a name that would always be misspelt. I started coughing at this point with my father protesting that when he gave me the name he didn’t realise it could be spelt another way.
I am quite proud of the way my name is spelt. There are not too many others of us (Stewart Lee and Stewart Downing being two examples) but I think we’re fiercely proud of the way the name is spelt. It’s a common enough name but with a unique twist.
It amused me greatly in my old job where my email address was my full name that people would have to spell it correctly to find my email address and then start the email addressing me as “Stuart.” I think this is probably the reason why I pay extra attention when writing someone’s name because it always makes me feel a little bit more special when someone gets mine correct.
I get a bit annoyed when American TV shows have characters called Stuart on them. The way they pronounce the name is horrid. It’s like “Stourt” or something. I find it painful to listen to. Stewie from Family Guy is fine though. Not only does the pet name suggest that he spells his name correctly, but in the first couple of seasons he was a ruthless genius and this is something I aspire to be. I have a couple of items of clothing with Stewie Griffin on them. One is a baseball cap which I was wearing on holiday in America. A musician who wanted me to buy his CD yelled out to me “Hey Stewie!” It took me a good few seconds to work out how he knew my name.
One great thing about my name – and it took me 25 years to realise this – is that, when shortened to Stew, it can replace you in any song. Every singer in the world is then literally singing about me. Stewart Lee worked this out too, but is more subtle naming his shows things such as A Room With A Stew.
Once you get past the major problems of having a name with an uncommon spelling – never being able to get novelty mugs with your name on being the biggest one – it becomes more of a badge of honour having to put up with misspellings. After the age of around 6, I accepted that I would often receive birthday cards with someone else’s name on and I learnt to deal with it. I think the disappointment of this put me in good stead for disappointment later in life that would be caused by the performance of the England Footballs Team.
I have always been told that Stewart is the Scottish way of spelling the name. This suits me and seems to be a way of connecting with my heritage as legend has it that my great-great-great-grandfather Anderson was originally Scottish and sailed down via Ireland before settling on the Kentish coast. However, when I went to Edinburgh Castle earlier this year, we found a sign with “The Royal House of Stewart” and whilst getting a photo of me in front of it, one of the members of staff informed me that it wasn’t actually the Scottish spelling. I have just found the below on Wikipedia:
Stuart is a traditionally masculine given name as well as a surname. It is the French form of the surname Stewart. The French form of the surname was brought to Scotland from France by Mary Stuart, in the 16th century.
As we all know, Wikipedia is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so I think that settles that matter. Further internet research suggests that the Mary Queen of Scots changed it from Stewart to Stuart to ensure the French could pronounce it correctly as they would usually render “w” as “v”.
Be proud of your name, no matter what it is, especially if it is unique. It makes you special.
