Texas Prospectives: What's in a Name

Recently, Governor Abbott has made a been to-do about the fact that Beto is not is not Beto O’Rourke’s real name. O’Rourke’s real name is Robert Francis O’Rourke. The governor, however, is being a little hypocritical in his criticism of his opponent for the governorship.

Beto is a pet name for children in the Mexican culture. It is an endearing name for Robert or Roberto. Beto was born in El Paso, raised in the border area of Texas, is fluent in Spanish and has been called Beto since childhood. On the other hand, Governor Abbott seems to ignore the fact that at least two leading members of his Republican party campaign fly under a false flag themselves.

Ted Cruz is actually Rafael Edward Cruz, not Ted. It is simply a name he has adopted since getting into politics. Additionally, Abbott’s friend and running mate for lieutenant governor runs as Dan Patrick. A dashing sort of name. However, Dan Patrick has not always been Dan Patrick. He was born Danny Gleb, a name of Russian origin. He changed his name after having gone bankrupt in a business venture in Houston, Texas and trying his hand at being a talk show host for many years.

It seems that both Ted Cruz and Dan Patrick changed their names for appearance’s sake, thinking that perhaps it would give them a little boost when their name appeared on the ballot.

It is not uncommon for many people to change their name for career advancing purposes. An example: who in the world would regard someone named Marion as one of the toughest guys on planet earth? Yet, that is the real name of John Wayne who led troops in battle, captured bad men as a tough western law man on horseback.

While I understand changing a name for some benefit, it seems hypocritical to me for our governor to be criticizing some while embracing others for having done the same thing.