Mark Cool; Is that your real name?

Yes, is always the short answer.

But there is a story behind it.

I was born Mark Good Jutton, son of Michael Good Jutton and Elizabeth Jane Cool.
My parents divorced when I was 5.
I remember my Mom saying to me, you know, you can have whichever name you want. At that point it was unfathomable to betray my dad by forsaking his name.

I grew up with my mom, seeing my Dad on weekends and Summers. My uncle, Dik Cool lived with me throughout my childhood, part of the collective that was my family. Every Summer we spent about a month with Raymond and Esther Cool, my grandparents. We went down to Florida most Winters to visit them too. My Grandpa Ray rented a cabin on Ontario Lake for 2 weeks each Summer. Some of my fondest childhood memories were formed there. We swam every day, ate great meals, and generally had a lot of fun family time. We laughed a lot, especially playing cards and board games in the evenings. When we went Florida sometimes we'd see my Grandpa Ray's big brother Harry Cool, a smiling bear of a man who always had a new joke to tell and a belly laugh to go with it.

The Cool name was probably German before Ellis Island and spelled Kuhl. This I've heard from some family members. We also have Scottish and Irish, so it could've been McCool, which is found over in the British Isles. There's a fable in kids books of the giant, Finn McCool.

I had children in my late 20's. My daughter was born a Jutton. When my son was on the way, I started thinking more about what my mom had told me years ago about the names. I realized that I was at a point in my family tree where one of the names might die with me. On the Jutton side, there's been a lot of dysfunction, in my experience. Not really a happy family. My dad's sister had maneuvered to knock my brother and I out of my Grandma Jutton's will. We were supposed to get my dad's shares because he died when we were young. They didn't feel like family like the Cools did.

I changed my name to Mark Cool officially in LA County in April, 1998, just a month before my son was born. We changed my daughter's name at the same time. She liked it. She was 3 and a half, and she enjoyed going to the courthouse together. She already had her Grandma's name as her middle name, and she didn't know any Juttons. I couldn't think of a middle name for myself that felt right, and it seemed a bit much to be Mark Good Cool, so now I just have the two names. Good was another family name on my Dad's side, from Denmark.

So when people ask me, almost daily, is that your real name? I just say yes.