We just spent two days and one night in Norman, Oklahoma.
This Norman should not be confused with the Norman, in Jackson County, Indiana. And it is a different town from Norman, Arkansas, Norman, Wisconsin, or any of the other Normans in fourteen states in the US. In addition, it should not be confused with the two towns named Norman in Sweden, or the one in South Africa or the one located in the cold Northwest Territories of Canada.
We were visiting the Norman in Oklahoma, for a few reasons.
One reason was when our granddaughter Lorelei heard Grandma Becky and Grandpa Norman had decided to drive instead of fly to a family wedding in Houston, Texas, she asked if we were going through Norman, Oklahoma. She asked because she knew Norman, the city, is the home of the University of Oklahoma. Lorelei is a pretty good 15-year-old softball pitcher who has dreams of going to college on a softball scholarship (dream big, Lorelei). The Sooners — possibly the best softball team ever — is her favorite team and she wondered if we could pick up an Oklahoma Sooners shirt. Of course, we could.
Another reason we made the trip is Oklahoma is one of the four states left on my bucket list of states to Visit. It’s taken a long time, my entire life, in fact, but I now can check one more box on the List. Finally, one reason we visited is because “Norman” is my first name.
Let’s face it: Norman is not a real common given name these days. I don’t think it ever was. I’m pretty sure it has never made it on those most-popular-baby-names-of-the-year lists. Off the top of my head, I can come up with Norman Rockwell (artist), Norman Schwarzkopf Jr. (commander of U.S. forces in the Gulf War); Norman Fell (actor), Norman Bates (The “Psycho” killer) and Norman the Calf (one of the stars in the Billy Crystal movie “City Slickers”). But, mostly, though, Norman is just not a name that one thinks of too often.
That is one of the reasons I found it strange as we walked and drove the streets of the city. Everywhere I looked I saw “Norman:” Painted on the sides of work vans; hanging in front of dry cleaners; gracing the entrance of the post office; decorating a brick wall’s colorful mural. I was constantly doing double-takes as we progressed through our city itinerary. It was hard for me to focus on the business at hand because I was distracted. Even Becky agreed it was a bit disconcerting to see “NORMAN” in giant letters running up the side of a huge water tower near our hotel. Although we weren’t in the city long, I never got used to it. Perhaps it would be different if I lived there. I started down a speculative road wondering about people who become eponyms: nouns made from a person’s name which come to represent an object or idea.
I thought of former President Donald Trump which shows the extent his name and his brand have saturated my cultural head space. We visited Chicago a couple of years ago and stayed right across the street from Trump Tower. I could not avoid seeing his name in massive silver lettering when I glanced out our hotel window. I could not not look. For better or for worse, his name and presence is today, I think, even more a part of the zeitgeist of our times.
But maybe he is a poor example of what I am trying to say.
I guess I am wondering: What does it do to your sense of self when your name becomes a widely recognizable symbol? How does that change you? It seems like it would be dangerously easy to think the world revolves around you. It seems something like that might make you “puffed up,” as the Bible says. But maybe that’s just me knowing my own ego.
Anyway, after we found a shirt for Lorelei on campus, we left for the Texas wedding. We spent four very nice days in the eponymously named, “Houston.”
Norman Knight, a retired Clark-Pleasant Middle School teacher, writes this weekly column for the Daily Journal. Send comments to [email protected].
