My name and what most everyone calls me, is Vance. I am named after my great grandfather. Vance is an old English name that translates to “very high places,” “marshland,” or “thresher.”
I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon for the first 18 years of my life. When I was a kid, an old neighbor suggested they find me a nickname. There is no ‘V’ sound in Arabic, so my name would be pronounced ‘Fance’ or ‘Bance.’ When you translate ‘the thresher’ into Arabic, the name is Farouk - he who separates (the wheat from the chaff). I went by Farouk for most of my childhood and through the first few years after college.
My middle name is Edward, after my father.
When I was 24, I had my bar mitzvah (longer story, but I learned about my Jewish heritage later in life). At my bar mitzvah, I was given a Hebrew name, Raphael, which means ‘he who heals.’