As we all know, in TOS Kirk was refered to as James T. Kirk, and his middle name was revealed to be Tiberius in i the TAS episode "Bem" and in Star Trek VI:The Undiscovered Country.
And as we all know, because of a failure to communicate, the tombstone made by Gary Mitchell for Kirk in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" had an inscription saying:
"James R. Kirk C. 1277.7 to 1313.7"
And there have been several different suggestions about the difference in middle initials.
And to me it seems perfectly obvious that the simpliest explaination is: when Kirk was named James Kirk he was also given more than one middle name. Kirk's middle names included Tiberius and an unknown number of other names, including at least one name that begins with the letter "R" I don't know if that name was Robert, or Rene, or Rudolf, or Radasgast, or whatever, but it began with the letter "R".
So when Kirk entered Starfleet he decided that the usual version of his name would be "James R. Kirk" and his official signature on documents would be "James R. Kirk". And then on stardate 1313.7 his best friend Gary Mitchell tried to kill him and made a tombstone inscribed with "Jame R. Kirk". But Kirk managed to kill Mitchell, dropping first the tombstone inscribed "James R. Kirk", and then a huge boulder, on Mitchell.
And then every time that Kirk signed a report "James R. Kirk" or initialed it "J,R.K." he was reminded of that tragic moment.
And so Kirk filed the required paperwork to choose another one of his middle names to be his official Starfleet one and changed the official form of his Starfleet name to be 'James Tiberius Kirk" and his official Starfleet signature to "James T. Kirk".
And it seems to me that is a very be simple theory that involves normal behavior.
Abut a number of people react like it violates laws of physics or something:
"Nobody ever changes their name!"
"Nobody has two middle names!"
"We know that Kirk's name is James Tiberius Kirk, no more, no less!"
Enclosed is a link to a post about the problems of computer programmers making assumptions about people's names. It list 40 assumptions that computer programmers make and doesn't claim to be exhaustive. It is called "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names".
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/
Read the list of falsehoods about names. You will find that many things which you believe about names are incorrect.
My great great great great grandfather Henry Hurst (1771-1834) had a daughter who was baptised as Anne Frances Veronica Hurst in 1801. In 1822 the daughter Anne married my great great great grandfather, Jacob Demuth (1779-1842) of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as his third wife, and they had nine children, including one of my great great grandfathers. Anne Frances Veronica Hurst Demuth died in 1868 and so was a widow for 26 years. In those 26 years she was listed by several different combinations of her names and initials in legal documents, census records, city directories, etc. Sometimes Frances was used instead of Anne as her first name, which is a much bigger change than changing which middle name to use.
So in my own family tree I have an example of a real person, who had two middle names, and thus more than one middle name, and who was named with various combinations of names and initials in different documents during their lifetime.
Here is a somewhat more famous example.
Major General George Crook (1828-1890) had no middle name according to General George Crook: his Autobiography, by George Crook and Martin F. Schmidt. However, I once made a list of about half a dozen different middle initials attributed to him, and although I forgot some of them here are examples..
For example, the movie Geronimo (1962) has the character of General George A. Crook, played by Lawrence Dobkin, the director of 'Charlie X", and Ambassador Kell in TNG "The Mind's Eye".
I remember a rhyme his soldiers were said to have made,beginning:
"I'd to be a packer, and pack with George F. Crook..."
And the Wikipedia article on him says:
And I read that when George Crook entered West Point his name was entered as George W. Crook by mistake, which may have become his official army name for part or all of his career.
And of course he is said to have had several nicknames given by various Indian groups, such as "Braided Beard", "Grey Fox", "Wolf Chief", and "Three Stars"..
And a more famous example was born as Hiram Ulysses Grant (1822-1885), whose name became U.S. Grant at West Point due to an error by the congressman who nominated him. Since U.S. stood for "Uncle Sam", Grant became known as "Sam" to his associates. You may have heard of the movie The Horse Soldiers(1959). It has soldiers sing a song mentioning "Ulysses Simpson Grant".
So I do not believe there is some sort of universal rule that everyone has to use, or be called by, the exact same name for their entire life.
And as we all know, because of a failure to communicate, the tombstone made by Gary Mitchell for Kirk in "Where No Man Has Gone Before" had an inscription saying:
"James R. Kirk C. 1277.7 to 1313.7"
And there have been several different suggestions about the difference in middle initials.
And to me it seems perfectly obvious that the simpliest explaination is: when Kirk was named James Kirk he was also given more than one middle name. Kirk's middle names included Tiberius and an unknown number of other names, including at least one name that begins with the letter "R" I don't know if that name was Robert, or Rene, or Rudolf, or Radasgast, or whatever, but it began with the letter "R".
So when Kirk entered Starfleet he decided that the usual version of his name would be "James R. Kirk" and his official signature on documents would be "James R. Kirk". And then on stardate 1313.7 his best friend Gary Mitchell tried to kill him and made a tombstone inscribed with "Jame R. Kirk". But Kirk managed to kill Mitchell, dropping first the tombstone inscribed "James R. Kirk", and then a huge boulder, on Mitchell.
And then every time that Kirk signed a report "James R. Kirk" or initialed it "J,R.K." he was reminded of that tragic moment.
And so Kirk filed the required paperwork to choose another one of his middle names to be his official Starfleet one and changed the official form of his Starfleet name to be 'James Tiberius Kirk" and his official Starfleet signature to "James T. Kirk".
And it seems to me that is a very be simple theory that involves normal behavior.
Abut a number of people react like it violates laws of physics or something:
"Nobody ever changes their name!"
"Nobody has two middle names!"
"We know that Kirk's name is James Tiberius Kirk, no more, no less!"
Enclosed is a link to a post about the problems of computer programmers making assumptions about people's names. It list 40 assumptions that computer programmers make and doesn't claim to be exhaustive. It is called "Falsehoods Programmers Believe About Names".
https://www.kalzumeus.com/2010/06/17/falsehoods-programmers-believe-about-names/
Read the list of falsehoods about names. You will find that many things which you believe about names are incorrect.
My great great great great grandfather Henry Hurst (1771-1834) had a daughter who was baptised as Anne Frances Veronica Hurst in 1801. In 1822 the daughter Anne married my great great great grandfather, Jacob Demuth (1779-1842) of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, as his third wife, and they had nine children, including one of my great great grandfathers. Anne Frances Veronica Hurst Demuth died in 1868 and so was a widow for 26 years. In those 26 years she was listed by several different combinations of her names and initials in legal documents, census records, city directories, etc. Sometimes Frances was used instead of Anne as her first name, which is a much bigger change than changing which middle name to use.
So in my own family tree I have an example of a real person, who had two middle names, and thus more than one middle name, and who was named with various combinations of names and initials in different documents during their lifetime.
Here is a somewhat more famous example.
Major General George Crook (1828-1890) had no middle name according to General George Crook: his Autobiography, by George Crook and Martin F. Schmidt. However, I once made a list of about half a dozen different middle initials attributed to him, and although I forgot some of them here are examples..
For example, the movie Geronimo (1962) has the character of General George A. Crook, played by Lawrence Dobkin, the director of 'Charlie X", and Ambassador Kell in TNG "The Mind's Eye".
I remember a rhyme his soldiers were said to have made,beginning:
"I'd to be a packer, and pack with George F. Crook..."
And the Wikipedia article on him says:
And I read that when George Crook entered West Point his name was entered as George W. Crook by mistake, which may have become his official army name for part or all of his career.
And of course he is said to have had several nicknames given by various Indian groups, such as "Braided Beard", "Grey Fox", "Wolf Chief", and "Three Stars"..
And a more famous example was born as Hiram Ulysses Grant (1822-1885), whose name became U.S. Grant at West Point due to an error by the congressman who nominated him. Since U.S. stood for "Uncle Sam", Grant became known as "Sam" to his associates. You may have heard of the movie The Horse Soldiers(1959). It has soldiers sing a song mentioning "Ulysses Simpson Grant".
So I do not believe there is some sort of universal rule that everyone has to use, or be called by, the exact same name for their entire life.
Last edited:
