As all can see, my real name is Roger, but my blog title says Rush, so to clear up any confusion, I figured I'd write my first post about how the nickname Rush came about. Everybody knows that the natural nick name for Roger is 'Rog', however what most people don't know is that my "real" name is not Roger, or rather not pronounced Roger. Being that I'm from Lebanon (which was once a French colony), my mother's intention when she named me was to use the French pronunciation of Roger, where the final r is silent. Little did she know the day after I was born would mark the start of a 17 year long civil war which would completely cripple the country and force our family to immigrate to the United States. This ripple effect led to my name being mispronounced by my American peers my entire life.
Needless to say, my mother never really liked it when my friends called me Roger, and I never really liked it either. My grief, however was not from the English pronunciation of Roger, but rather the natural nickname Rog. Rog is not a bad nickname, in fact I think it's kind of cool, but when you look Lebanese and you live in America and someone calls you Rog, far too often people mistake the nickname for the common Indian name Raj. Anyway, as you can imagine, I got pretty sick of explaining to people that my nickname is not Raj, it's Rog; with a G, which is short for Roger, which is technically Roger, pronounced the French way; with a silent R at the end. I know, this is getting complicated, but bare with me.
By the 7th grade this got to be a bit too much for me to handle, so I decided to take matters into my own hands and come up with my own nickname. The problem was that nicknames are not something you typically choose for yourself. Nicknames are usually somthing you are given. And even if you happen to choose a nickname and introduce yourself by that name, it is usually a derivative of your real name. So how does one go about giving himself a nickname that has absolutely no relation to his real name? Well, I don't know if I can answer that question for those of you looking to change your own nicknames, but here's how I did it:
It officially started on the first day of middle school, when my English teacher, Mr. Fletcher, was calling role. As many teachers do on the first day of school, Mr. Fletcher asked the class to let him know if they wanted to be referred to by anything other than their legal name. This is the time most William's say Bill and most Rebecca's say Becky and so on. I usually kept my mouth shut, for if I said Rog, well... you know what would happen. But this time was different. As he was going through the role, I thought to myself. "This is my chance, I can finally change my nickname to anything I want!"
The problem was while I knew I wanted a new nickname, I didn't have one prepared, and I only had about a minute to figure it out. I knew I had to say it with confidence or else the stern Mr. Fletcher would surely know it was a lie, and probably never use it. I also felt it had to start with an 'R' or else it just wouldn't sound right. At the time I was into hip hop music, and followed many of the up and coming artists of the late 80's who are now referred to as "old school". Guys like Run-DMC, Public Enemy, and LL Cool J to name a few. Anyway, not to bore you with hip hop history but many of these early artists had record deals with Russell Simmons (who happens to be Run, of Run-DMC's older brother). Simmons, started a record company under the label "Rush Records", which eventually evolved into the world famous Def-Jam Records and Rush Communications empire. Back when they were "Rush Records" I was very much into their music, and I thought "Rush... that sounds like a cool name", and just as the thought cleared my mind I heard Mr. Fletcher...
"Roger Ramia?" he called.
"Yes" I replied.
"Nickname?" He paused.
"Yes... Rush" I said confidently.
"Rush as in R.U.S.H?" He confirmed.
"Yes" I said trying not to smile.
And from that moment on, he referred to me as Rush. In the beginning it was a bit weird because he was the only person who called me Rush. Everyone who knew me previously as Roger still called me Roger or Rog/Raj. I remember second guessing my decision and wondering "What have I just done? How will I tell all my existing friends that I just changed my nickname to Rush?" But by now it was too late, Mr. Fletcher was calling me Rush everyday, and I was far to embarrassed to tell him to stop. Thankfully, over time, everyone in that class, even the ones who knew me previously, began to call me Rush. Eventually it caught on to even my closest friends and relatives, until it became an true, bonafide nickname. Little did anyone know I made it up, on the spot. Mr. Fletcher, if you’re out there, I thank you!
Only after college when I started my career, did people start calling me Roger again. These days, I just let it slide, but those who know me well enough still refer to me as Rush. You can call me whatever you like, but just thought I'd finally come clean.
