JTDRAIG is a play on words that honors my heritage.  As far as I can determine (and this is stll a work in process), I am approximately 75% from Germanic heritage and 25% Welsh although I grew up to mostly relate to my Welsh heritage.  I really don’t think my parents did much with genealogy although my Mother had a fairly extensive pedigree and didn’t really know it.  Her pedigree goes back to 1630 in Prescott Parish, Lancashire, North England.  Her ancestors emigrated from England in the late 1600’s settling in the Boston, Massachusetts area and eventually became the founders of Newport and Block Island (Rhode Island).  Eventually, her directs  migrated to the west (The Dakotas).  Her ancestors fought in the American Revolution, the War of 1812, and, the US Civil War (on both sides).  Ironically, my Father’s family have a rich heritage in North Wales originating in Amwylch, an Island off the Welsh Coast.  My Grandfather emigrated in 1908 moving to the State of Iowa where he began his career as a Methodist Minister.

DRAIG is the Welsh word for DRAGON.  JT stands for JOHN which translates the same from German into English as it is in English.  T would be the word THE.  Hence, JOHN THE DRAGON is the translation of JTDRAIG.  I created this term in the late 1980’s when I was one of the first IBM managers to use what became known as “email”.  When AOL was formed, I was one of the first to sign up.  Email names should be unusual, personalized, and easily remembered.  I always had a red Welsh dragon symbol on my desk at work and when I was trying to create an online id I tried several things until I looked at the dragon and it came to me.  I anxiously input the term and there were no matches so it was mine!  Since those days, I evolved from AOL to YAHOO and then to GMAIL.  I have never found a conflict.

I rather like the name “John the Dragon”.  It fits my personality in many ways.  It honors my complicated heritage.  In fact, while I was active in politics, “the dragon” was one of the nicknames that I had.  When I left Connecticut, my Party gave me a plaque embossed with a dragon along with a dragon lighter that shoots fire when ignited.