“I’m Forrest, Forrest Gump”

Actually, my name is Nathan, Nathan Kim.  Some of my closer friends call me Nate… and usually they have no idea when they start calling me that.  It just happens one day.  Some call me “Boris” – that’s a story in and of itself.  And if you don’t think I can write an entire entry simply about my name, you really don’t know me that well. 

My uncle actually gave me my first name.  He never had any kids of his own because he married a woman who was 12 years older than he was… a scandal in my family at the time,  But together they served God better than they could apart, I believe (That’s a seperate story in itself).  I think he actually wanted to name me Jonathan (after the best friend of David) but my parents left off the “Jo” and named me “Nathan” thinking it was the same thing… so, yes, I could have been yet another “John Kim” if my parents’ spelling was better.

I think Korean people have trouble saying my first name.  Throughout my life the variations they would come up with were incredible.  I’ve heard it all… Nayshin, Maysim, Laytham, Nelson, Nuhshing, Nothing, Jason, David…  I had the most fun calling this one family… the Mins, because it was like the father was composing a symphony with my name… 

Me:  Hello, may I speak with Linda?
Mr. Min:  [In a protective father tone] Who is this?
Me:  It’s Nathan… her Sunday School teacher.  (I would add that last part to make him feel more at ease)
Mr. Min:  Oh, okay…. [yelling upstairs]  Linda!  It’s Laynetham!
Linda: [as she comes to get the phone]  Dad, it’s pronounced Nathan….  NAY-THAN…
Mr Min:  [to Linda] May-shim…
Linda: No, NAY…. NAY-THAN… nevermind.

My middle name, which starts with an “S” is quite unique… and when I say “unique” I actually mean it in the real meaning of the word.  I don’t think that anyone else in the world has this same name.  It’s Korean in the sense that my grandfather gave it to me and spelled it out in Korean, but that’s where the Korean-ness of it ends.  I’m not going to reveal it here because there are several people out there who are on a quest to try to figure it out.  Only one person ever has guessed it without looking at one of my official documents.  I can usually tell how “Korean” someone is by their reaction when they hear it.  If Korean is not their primary language, they shrug it off most of the time.  But I’ve made some Korean parents fall over in laughter when they heard my Korean name.  To give you an idea, in English it would be the equivalent of having a name like…  Hoobastank or Muilav.  The mother of a friend of mine admitted to me that whenever she was feeling down, all her daughter had to do was whisper in her ear my Korean name and she would be giggling like a schoolgirl.

But I wouldn’t change my middle name for the world because of the meaning behind it.  The origin of the name is actually from the book of Jeremiah.  In it, they are describing the altar in the tabernacle.  On it there are four horns – each with a different name.  If someone had committed some grave sin, he could come to the altar, place his hand on one of the horns and declare “sanctuary.”  Then whatever sin he was accused of would be absolved.  These horns came to represet Jesus Christ and the cleansing power of His blood.  My grandfather, wanting each of his four grandsons who were born of his sons to be like Christ, named us after each of these four horns.  I am “Horn of Zion.” which when translated into Korean is S—— (Don’t ask me how he knew that he would have exactly four grandsons from his six sons.)

In Hebrew, Nathan means “gift”.  That’s why Nathaniel means “gift of God” because “El” is God in Hebrew.  The Chinese symbol used for Kim is the symbol for metal or gold.  So if you took my full name literally, you could translate it as… “The gift of the golden horn of Zion”… but that’s a mouthful and sounds a bit pretentious…  so I’ll just keep it as Nathan, Nathan S. Kim.  Some folks call me Nate.