Aside from physical characteristics, the most important characteristic that distinguishes a human being is his or her name. For most of my life, I took my name for granted and never, not once, in nearly six decades did I ever meet anyone who had my first and last name in a mirror image combination.

To be sure my last name Adler had some public recognition while I was growing up. There was once a company, apparently deceased, named Adler that marketed what they called “elevator” shoes which had a built-in uplift that added two inches to a man’s height. Beyond that, I never met another person named Adler through school, the teenage years, my Army days and my early working life.

Read more: What’s In a Name?