My Last Name
I was born March 3, 1982 as Christopher Paul Gratny in Canton, Ohio. My last name, as given, Gratny. A fairly American sounding name. While growing up, I heard rumors of a different last name. Something like D'Gratigny. As a child, I was fascinated with this original name, and always wondered how it was spelled.
In November of 2008, we were visiting my uncle's, and he brought out some books that were sent to him. Apparently, one of our distant relatives ran across Dicken's works, that were leatherbound and was given as a present on Dec 25, 1890 to Raleigh F Gratigny.
The moment I saw the book, I saw that last name - I knew I had to change back. The Gratny name has only been around for a few generations, but Gratigny has been around for hundreds of years.
Changing my name to Chris Gratigny from Chris Gratny was definitely a big change. Melissa and I went to the courthouse, filed the papers - and had to show up to court for the final change. The process was very worth it.
Really, why change my name? I knew that I should, I just knew. And second, the French pronunciation of the name has so much more character than the Americanized version. I know that I'll be in business my entire life, and I decided that introducing Chris Gratigny just sounds like I have so much more character than Chris Gratny.
