Now that you know how Barb and I picked the names of our kids, it is time to face the elephant in the room. How and why did my parents stick me with the name Lester? What’s the story?

I realize that some names go in and out of fashion. Last year’s top-of-the-heap baby name could be this year’s bottom-of-the-barrel. But Lester certainly never made it big. In the year I was born (1956, a year in which Michael dominated the most popular name list) Lester is ranked #176, sandwiched between Tim and Allan. Things went downhill from there. A quick look at the 2021 list shows Michael is still a respectable boy’s name choice at #17 while Lester doesn’t even crack the top 1,000.

And famous Lesters? You can just about fuggedaboutit! While we had no trouble coming up with 25 celebrities named Michael for centerpieces at our son’s Bar Mitzvah party, the list of Lesters that you have heard of is scant indeed. No royalty, no Presidents, no Supreme Court justices, no marquee actors. (See below for a Lester quiz.)

Occasionally Lesters do pop up. I was one of four Lesters in my medical school class. Though it felt amazing, we were still less than 1% of the class. And I can’t recall much about any of the other four–we didn’t exactly hang out together.

So how did my parents choose my name? Unlike many in the Jewish faith, I was not named after an ancestor. The initial “L” was not in honor of anyone lost in the Holocaust. And I doubt my parents were thinking of the English town of Leicester (pronounced Lester) when they were contemplating their choices–although my mother did spend a year in England on her immigration journey from Austria to the US.

Family legend attributes my name’s origin to a boy named Lester in my sister’s kindergarten class. Apparently, my mother liked the name so decided to hang it around the neck of her only son. No word has been passed on as to what my dad thought about the choice!

I have no idea if this tale is true. With my parents and sister deceased I have no way to confirm its veracity. I have known one other person from my sister’s kindergarten class, a Chicago psychiatrist who matriculated in the same med school class as me. While he recalled having a kindergarten crush on my sister, he didn’t remember any other Lesters being in their class.

So I will never know the whole saga. I have no one else to ask. To paraphrase the immortal words of Paul Harvey, “now you know most of the story.”

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Lester Quiz

Can you name these “Lester” celebrities? Answer in “Replies” or send your responses to chidoc@post.com No fair Googling. No prize for the most right answers!

1. A Grammy-winning guitarist who is also in the Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame
2. America’s “greatest rock critic” (real name Leslie, but known as Lester)
3. Chicago Cubs’ free-agent acquisition, he led the team to a World Series title
4. A stellar bluegrass musician
5. NBC’s prime newscaster
6. Directed the Beatles
7. A Southern state governor in the 1960s.