In the latest of my what’s in a name series a woman in Sweden got tattoos of her kids’ names but the tattoo artist put an extra L in Kevin, so the tattoo said Kelvin.
Instead of trying to fix the tattoo the woman basically decided “Kelvin” is close enough and changed her son’s name to Kelvin. The woman would’ve needed to have the name surgically removed, which would’ve been really expensive, so she decided discretion was the better part of valor, I guess.
Kevin, er, Kelvin, is only 2 years old, so maybe he won’t be too confused when his mother starts calling him Kelvin.
Never been a big fan of tattoos — or piercings — on me. I mean obviously it’s a personal thing for people who decide to cover their bodies with tattoos and piercings, but for me I’ll pass.
What that Swedish woman did kind of reminds me of a commercial I saw — I don’t even know what it was advertising — with a guy showing his date his tattoos of his ex, his ex ex and the space he’s saved for that special one.
The Swedish woman’s story also reminds me of Oprah Winfrey’s story. She was actually named after Orpah, Ruth’s sister-in-law in the Bible, but people kept calling her Oprah by mistake.
Anyway, when it comes to being able to “tattoo” one’s name to my head, I will mean that figuratively and not literally.
— Charles Whisnand
