The Name of the Game

Over time, Kenta’s nickname became “Kenta-bean.” I’m not sure why. Kinda sounds like kidney bean, but if I were to choose my favorite bean it would be the soybean. It rhymes with Norma Jean so when we do morning roll call it would sound natural… Alias, Kenta Bean, Norma Jean…

I’m not sure I’ve ever shared how Alias and Norma got their names… I adopted the two from my boss’ family who were fostering them, their four siblings and their mom. The 10 year old daughter named the two Billy and Norma. Keeping Norma, Norma was a no brainer. It fit her, I wanted to honor the work my boss’ daughter did, and I liked having an older sounding name. Billy wasn’t going to work however. I always thought if I adopted a female cat, I’d name her Billie, after Billie Holiday who I love. I still reserve that option. I could have named Norma “Billie” and kept Billy Billy. 

But to honor his name, and always wanting to name a cat after some Bob Dylan reference, I landed on Alias, Bob’s character’s name in the film ‘Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid.’ One of Bob’s few lines in the movie when asked about his name replies, “Alias anything you want.” So by naming Billy “Alias” I could call him anything I wanted. He’s definitely grown into his name perfectly.