LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) – If someone were to ask Richard and Regina Scheppler’s children to name seven of the country’s presidents, they wouldn’t have any problem. They’d just have to think of their siblings.
The Schepplers’ children all have presidential names. There’s Tyler, Grant, McKinley, Kennedy, Harrison, Madison and Regan _ although Regan’s name is spelled differently than Ronald Reagan and wasn’t intended as a reference to the 40th president.
“We named the first one Regan because her name meant princess; Regina’s was queen; and Richard means king,” Richard Scheppler said in a story in Monday’s Lubbock Avalanche-Journal.
“I had a great aunt who was a staunch Democrat, and she thought _ she swore _ that we named her after Reagan the president,” he said.
Regina Scheppler said her great aunt didn’t admire President Reagan. “She wouldn’t call my daughter by anything but her middle name, and was very adamant about that,” she said.
After Regan Nicole, now 17, came Tyler Landmon Keith and the Schepplers saw the presidential pattern developing. They perpetuated the naming system intentionally with their third child, Madison Elaine. She was followed by Grant William Earl, McKinley Ann, Kennedy Kate and Harrison James.
Regina Scheppler says that when the Declaration of Independence was a summer reading project, the children were enthused because Harrison was one of the signers.
She said the children are more interested in history because of their names.
But McKinley Ann, who is five, found it tough in kindergarten at first because of all the letters in her name.
“She would tell us, ‘Mama, other people have short names of just four or five letters,'” Regina Scheppler said.