This post can also be found at The Art of Laughing, my blog on poetry, politics, legal history, legal theory, assorted randomness. It was left here for purposes of Google search optimization.
Or am I Adam Charles Markus. Anyway, either way works for me. アダム マーカス is actually my legally registered Japanese name in Japan. I decided to drop my middle name, "Charles," well, because I don't like it much. The name Charles always struck me as old and additionally I always felt that it would make people associate me with Charlie Brown. And actually, my wife, Akiko aka Lucy, certainly thinks of me that way.
For the record, my Hebrew name is Adam Ben Baruch, "Adam Son of Blessing." My father's Hebrew name is Baruch, whereas his actual name is Bruce. My parents named their sons Adam and Josh, so actually our names are the same in English and Hebrew.
Ultimately though, I go by Adam Markus. The only problem is that half the time people my first name is last name. I have gotten used to this confusion. When I am called Markus, I start to feel like an ancient Roman, but more about that later.
