I don’t know when I became aware of my name, but “Jamie” just never sat well with me. It just didn’t sound right though my mother, my Memaw and two aunts persisted. To this day, one of my aunts “slip,” but with a wink and a giggle as I shoot the side eye, letting her get away with calling me Jamie one more time. Scottish in spirit, but skittish to me. “ Jim” never connected with me either, until I worked with a professor from South Africa whose pronunciation made the name sound elegant. He’s the only one who never received a word of correction as I waited for him to say it again. There’s a aire of nobility when addressing Conrad’s young British sailor Jim or a Starfleet Captain Jim, but it does not sound as pleasant if I must answer to it. My paternal grandparents tried, but my recollection is they did not approve of “Jim” or “Jamie” either, and so called me by my given name, “James.” Perhaps they were the affectionate source of my awareness. I am named after my father to th...