After my post last night, my brother passed this along from Wikipedia. I don't know if my father knows this is out there, but I imagine it's a pretty weird feeling to have your own Wikipedia page. I know he occassionally reads this, so hopefully he'll comment below.
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Our second day in Iowa, we went to Kimberly's department and talked to some of the administrative assistants. One of them asked me if my last name was the same as Kimberly's (which was surprisingly progressive of her), and I told her no, my name was Mauro. She said, "M-o-r-r-o-w?" And I said, "No, M-a-u-r-o."
Her eyes kind of lit up, and she said "Oh, the Italian version" then pronounced it like you do in Italian (with a rolling r and all). While this was odd, what she said next was even weirder: "There are a lot of Italian Mauros in Des Moines, they're a pretty big family."
Of course I figured, "whatever, this woman is crazy" and let it go.
Then, while I was looking up info on registering our car, I came across the web page of the Iowa Secretary of State. Again, pretty weird, but just an interesting coincidence, right.
Yesterday, Kimberly came home with this (the whole thing is important, but the last paragraph the most important):
Now, that's a surprising statement, ain't it. Apparently my name should carry some weight in this area. I always imagined that if my name were to carry any weight, it would be somewhere with some well-known Italian heritage, like Providence, Chicago, or San Francisco, but not Des Moines.I guess the thing I need to find out now is if the Mauro name is revered like the Kennedys in the northeast or despised like the Kennedys in the south.
