• Blog
  • Bio
  • Businesses
  • Nonprofits
  • Contact
Menu

Jeb Banner- Indianapolis, IN

Street Address
City, State, Zip
Phone Number
thoughts on life, business, technology and music

Your Custom Text Here

Jeb Banner- Indianapolis, IN

  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Businesses
  • Nonprofits
  • Contact

My Kids Call Me Jeffrey

May 29, 2015 Jeb Banner
"Jeffrey" and his family

"Jeffrey" and his family

I blame Katy Perry. She started this whole “Jeffrey” thing. 

Remember her song “Dark Horse”? How could you not! Over the last 18 months it has been on the radio constantly. I don’t mind a good Katy Perry song but I am not a “Dark Horse" fan. I especially dislike the obligatory rap in the middle section. I find these lyrics particularly disturbing- “she’ll eat your heart out, like Jeffrey Dahlmer.” What!?

So whenever that song came on, usually in the car, I turned it down during the rap. This only incited my kids to shout it out none the less. Children live to find creative forms of acceptable parental torture. All of this lead to me being called “Jeffrey”. 

My first instinct was to squash this. “I’m not Jeffrey” I protested. This only deepened their commitment. Soon the usage was so prevalent it was causing confusion. Friends would come over and ask “who’s this Jeffrey?” Then I would have to explain it all over again, to the delight of my kids. 

At one point, about a year ago, my middle daughter wrote a song celebrating my new name. One lyric really hit the mark- “he’s got a friend, his friend’s not real, who is that? It’s records!” Ouch. 

Over time I’ve come to embrace being “Jeffrey.” I feel honored by it somehow.

Here’s the thing, when children are born we get to name them. It’s feels a little god-like to name a person. “Thy name shall be…” But in doing so, these newly minted children give us new names as well- mother, father, mom, dad, etc. So why not let them go a little further, get a little more specific? In my case, they have landed on Jeffrey, I can live with that. 

← How Much Should I Share?A Better Way To Spend $2 Million →

Quarterly Newsletter

Sign up with your email address to receive quarterly updates.

Thank you!

TWITTER

  • I had an intense dream the other night. Here's the dream with some AI analysis. Curious what y'all think. https://t.co/xUgLpYaqiF
    Mar 30, 2023, 2:56 PM
  • Turntable is back! I am very excited. I create a room for my Garage Jukebox playlist. Stop by, streaming hits from… https://t.co/fd2LUFS1nA
    Mar 30, 2023, 10:26 AM

Blog Posts

Featured
Jul 5, 2022
End Of A Season...
Jul 5, 2022
Jul 5, 2022
Jan 2, 2019
Finding Common Ground - 10 Principles We Can (hopefully) All Agree On
Jan 2, 2019
Jan 2, 2019
Jan 11, 2018
In Praise Of Bill Withers
Jan 11, 2018
Jan 11, 2018
Dec 1, 2017
How I Got To "Get In, Get Out"
Dec 1, 2017
Dec 1, 2017
Nov 30, 2017
The Mess Men Have Made
Nov 30, 2017
Nov 30, 2017
You must select a collection to display.

Powered by Squarespace