Once upon a time, in a far away land across the big, big ocean where the people sound like Peter Sellers or Benny Hill, a baby boy was born. Born of two great warriors (okay, an accountant and a computer operator in the US Air Force), young Joshua Burney Balog was born.
How did this child destined for such greatness come to have this name? Inspiration from God? Family tradition? Too much hashish? No, no. great thought went into this name.
Joshua. Joshua is the name of a great Old Testament hero. It was also the name of one of the lead characters in the Western comedy “Alias Smith and Jones”, Joshua Smith. The other was Thaddeus Jones. Thaddeus would have just been too weird.
Burney. Burney, not Bernie, not Bernard. Burney.
Joshua’s parents were married in the little hamlet of Upper Marlborough, Maryland. They were young, in love, and broke. Joshua’s father did, however, have a friend with an apartment. That friend agreed to let the newlyweds use his apartment for their honeymoon. (He was going out of town anyway.) His sole condition for this generous act was that Joshua’s father had to promise to name his firstborn male child after him.
That friend was John Henry Burney Jr.
And therein is the truth. Joshua John or Joshua Henry would have been just wrong. And so, Joshua Burney Balog it was.
And is.