Hi, my name is Sele. (pronounced Sell) And I am in the business of selling cars for a living. I actually work as a Sales Manager at an automobile dealership. Whenever I go out to meet one of our customers, I am usually greeted with confused looks. These looks are always followed by “what did you say your name was?” After repeating myself, I am usually asked about the origins of the name to which I always reply: “I’m a junior, I got it from my Dad.” I have been told numerous times that my parents must have known that I would be selling stuff for a living. I generally respond that they probably just guessed I would since I liked to talk a lot as a child.

Today, however, upon meeting a customer for the first time and repeating my name, the customer looked me in the eye and said, “If you name is “sell”, then you can call me “buy.” I laughed and told him that it was nice to meet him and I loved to meet customers who referred to themselves as “buy,” as long as they bought from me.

If I were born in the middle ages, my last name would have probably been Seller. During these times it was common for someones last name to be a reflection of the trade or craft that one did to earn a living. If your last name was Miller, then you probably ground flour from gain. A Wainwright would have been a wagon builder or Taylor would have made or repaired clothing for a living. Even the name Outlaw reflected that the person in question was of questionable character. However not all family names could have been deciphered so easily. You would think that Banker would have been someone who loaned money for a living. However, that would not be the case, generally that person was one that lived on a hillside.

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