The blog of Rich Mackin

My names and what they mean;

Legal name: Rev. Richard John Vail Mackin

Daily name: Rich Mackin

Screen name: richmackin

Buddhist name: Keido Koken

Rev. Richard John Vail Mackin

“Rev.”, short for “Reverend”, refers to my being an ordained Minister of the Universal Life Church. If you’re reading this, you probably know what that’s all about.

“Richard” derives from an English meaning, “Brave Ruler” likely connected with Richard I, aka “Richard the Lionhearted”, historical figure and Christ metaphor in Robin Hood stories. I’m specifically named after a friend of my parents who I don’t know all that much about.

“John” is common name. Invokes many definitions, mostly unflattering. I’m specifically named for my maternal grandfather, John Bates. I especially enjoy having the middle initial “J”, since that is the official middle initial of cartoon characters. (Homer J. Simpson, Stimpson “Stimpy” J. Cat, Bullwinkle J. Moose, Rocket J. Squirrel, Micheal J. Fox, etc.)

“Vail” is new! I gathered this when I married my (second) wife. The day before we married, he name was Lydia Blair Vail. Her name now is Blair Vail Mackin. Technically it is part of my ‘new’ last name, so I’ve changed initials.

“Mackin” is my last name. As far as I can tell, my paternal last name was historically MacKinnon, and somewhere between Scotland and North America, we lost “non”. I think the “non” is loitering somewhere in Newfoundland or New Brunswick. Somewhere New.

“Rich Mackin”: Go on, say it, it’s phonetic fun for everyone. People seem to love to say my name. People like to say “RICHMACKIN!” like it’s one word. Friends do it, people who have considered themselves foes do it. It seems especially fun to shout from moving bikes or cars. Also, one of my creations is a semi-fictional character named Rich Mackin, which is loosely based on myself. This has led to much disappointment when people realize I’m not really that guy. It’s like how Jerry Seinfeld the TV character based on Jerry Seinfeld the creator of the character is not the real guy, just a version of him.

OH, and there are at least 3 or 4 other Rich Mackins. The one with the historically biggest online presence besides myself seems big in the UK train scene. Apparently, there is a Rich Mackin who is a gamer, who may be the same Rich Mackin who got banned from the hi-tech lego site. My name is unusual enough for there to not be many of them, but common enough that I’m not the only one. (Although my wife seems o be the only one with her name!)

“richmackin”. Look me up on Livejournal (which will link you up here), Myspace, Facebook, flikr, wordpress and probably some other stuff. And when the new cool thing starts that everyone joins online, I’ll use “richmackin” for that, too

“Keido”: this is my Buddhist family name. I practice in a Japanese lineage, so we use Japanese syntax- family name first. Keido can be translated as “Bright Hallway”, which refers more to a meditation hall. Bright can be interpreted a few ways.

“Koken”;This was one of three names offered to me by my dharma teacher, Gyokuko Carlson of Dharma Rain Zen Center. All three meant variations of simple life, sitting still, just being. The most literal translation might be “Simply residing”, the most Zen is “just sitting” and what I think my teacher was driving at was “Sit down and shut up, Mackin!” So, my Buddhist name is more or less “Simply resides in the bright hall.”