In English my name means a device used to lift heavy objects. As a playing card it means a soldier. It means a page. It means I am below the king and queen. It is like a servant. A meaningless color. It  is the staircase used for others to go forward. It was derived from Jackin and was a medieval pet name for John. Now it is mine.

During the Middle Ages the name grew and became a slang for man. It was used in many fairytales such as Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Jack Horner, and Jack Sprat. As time elapsed the name was finally given to a man who succeeded on his own. Of the most famous include Jack Nicholson and Jack Black (actors), Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, and Jack Youngblood (hall of fame football players), and Jack London and Jack Kerouac (writers).

And the story is the same for all the other Jacks who made it. I have inherited this name but I don’t want to inherit that with a negative connotation. None of us Jacks have dreams of being a soldier or servant. Perhaps the Jack can replace the king or queen among the top of the hierarchy.

At school my friends don’t even say my name. They call me by my last name. Hopefully this is the first sign that the meaning of a true Jack doesn’t exist in my life. As life goes on people will eventually start to call me Jack. I just hope that when they say it, they say it with something besides a demand in mind.