What’s in a (my) name?

B. Jay Cooper
3 min readJun 23, 2021

Most of us go through life and when someone asks, “what’s your name?” and you tell them, immediate reaction is to say “nice to meet you.”

My name leads to other issues. When folks ask my name I typically respond, “B. Jay Cooper.” Now that is easier to pronounce, say, than Georgeanne Pauladunkus, but it’s what happens after that gets more complicated.

For decades some folks call me “Jay” because, I guess, when they hear or see “B. Jay” they immediately think the “B” is silent and I become “Jay.” (“Jay” actually is a name I do not like on its own. Don’t ask me why…

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B. Jay Cooper

Former deputy White House press secretary (Reagan and Bush 41) and former head of communications at Republican Natl Committee. My blog: bjaycooper.com.