My name is unclear, for it was created through jeer.

"Wager!" "Waggar!" "Wagaur!" "Wagner!" "Swaggar!" Throughout my whole life very few people have ever pronounced my name correctly on their first try without me pronouncing it first. Despite my last name only being five simple letters, I've gone entire school years of teachers taking attendance and never pronouncing it "Way - gur." Even life long friends still pronounce it incorrectly to this day. How did I get such a simple, yet complex last name?

According to a genealogy chart my father made (http://www.steve.wagar.com/stuff/new_genes.gif), my family name originated from the name: Weger (Vay - Gur). Because this name has been around for over five hundred years, it was never recorded as to what this name means since most people didn't know how to write. It was originally an uncommon Austrian last name, up and until Ebhard Wager traveled to America and changed his last name to have an "a" so that it could be pronounced in English. However his son, Ephraim Wagar,  then improved it to have that second "a" to be the way my last name is pronounced now. Because of changing this name twice, Wagar's are extremely rare. If you were to google image search it, the only pictures you may see are of me, my family and an old stuffy author which was my grandfather.

So I suppose I can't really blame people for messing it up all the time, because up and until 1766, it wasn't even a real last name. I've grown to get used to such a simply bizarre last name, and it's weird pronunciations have even grown on me. I like that it lacks fluidity, yet isn't blunt. In terms of my actual ethnicity, since I'm basically all of Europe combined (although mostly Irish and Lithuanian), I'm proud to say that I'm American down to my very name. I'm unique! Well, until you get to my first name... 

I like to think of myself as someone who craves for the weird, and someone who strives to be strange. And yet, my first name, Matthew, was deemed the fifth most common name in USA and eighteenth most common in UK in 2006. This name originated to be Hebrew, although many Roman languages have copied with names like Mattheo, Matthias, and Matthieu. Does this mean I dislike my name since it's so common amongst many cultures? Not really. When it comes down to it, my name is who I am.  If I could change my name, I wouldn't know what to change it to. I've always grown up around my name, so to change it would mean I'd have to start from square one all over again. Through just my name, I've built up this image of how people see me, and by changing it, I'd not only have to explain to every person I know that I have a different name, but also build a new reputation. It's similar to how when transsexuals or secret agents change their name; through the action and reasoning of changing their name, they change in personality and reputation. No matter how foreign, outdated, long, or simple someone's name is, their reputation they've built up for their name shows who they distinctly are as a person. Matthew Wagar is the perfect blend of normal and unorthodox, the perfect blend of complex and simple.

Although for real everyone, it's Matthew "Wagar!!"