I get this question all the time. According to my Dad, when he was a young lad, he idolized a singer by the name of Johnnie Ray. He also was not fond of his given name Gary and wanted to change it to Johnny. Many years later, while in the Army, he was stationed in Germany and developed friendship with John Terdell. Both men agreed to name their first born son after each other. My Dad later received a letter from John Terdell stating he had named his boy after my Dad.

My Mom’s side of this story is she did not care for the name John or Jonathan and because my Dad was set on living up to the agreement, they chose to compromise on the name JT. There are no periods, no spaces, just JT. They ultimately had a fight with the hospital over the name, but in the end they won.

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