What's In A Name?

My full legal name is D. Broadus Keele, Jr. I don't have a first name; only an initial! I have however adopted Don as an alias and have been known informally as Don Keele since high school.

My grandfather was an itinerant (traveling) preacher in the Southern Baptist church. He named my father after a famous preacher in the church in the last half of the nineteenth century: John Albert Broadus (1827-1895). This man earned a Doctorate in Theology and was a professor at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY, and hence was known as Dr. John A. Broadus. In honor of this man, my grandfather named my dad Doctor Broadus Keele. Doctor of course is my father's name not a title.

When I was born, my father wanted to make me a junior and hence wanted to name me Doctor Broadus Keele, Jr. My mother however had other ideas and wanted nothing to do with Doctor as a name. Unknown to my dad, when she filled in my name on my birth certificate, she left off the Doctor and wrote D. Broadus Keele, Jr., hence I only have an initial as a first name! So you might ask, why am I a junior if my name is not the same as my dad? That's just the way it is!

Doctor Broadus Keele, Sr. looking at picture of Dr. John Albert Broadus (Circa 1975, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY)

Doctor Broadus Keele, Sr. looking at picture of Dr. John Albert Broadus (Circa 1975, Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, KY)

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