For 11 months out of the year, being named Tom is completely fine. It is classic, simple, and easy to spell at coffee shops. Nobody thinks twice about it.
Then November hits, and suddenly I am no longer just a regular guy. I am "Tom Turkey."
Every single year, without fail, the jokes roll in. Friends text me pictures of cartoon gobblers. Relatives ask if I am nervous about the fourth Thursday of the month. At the Thanksgiving dinner table, someone always looks at the roasting pan and asks, "Hey Tom, how does it feel to be the guest of honor?" It is harmless fun, sure, but after a few decades of the exact same punchline, you start to wonder how my perfectly good name got hijacked by poultry.
What "Tom Turkey" Actually Means
In the simplest terms, a "Tom" is just an adult male turkey. While young males are called "jakes" and females are called "hens" or "jennys," the big, strutting adult males with the fanned out tail feathers and the red wattles are Toms.
Ironically, when you buy a turkey at the grocery store for Thanksgiving, there is a good chance it isn't even a Tom. Because adult males grow much larger, often over 16 to 20 pounds, with heavier bones, many families actually buy smaller, more tender hens. Yet, in pop culture, cartoons, and elementary school paper hand cutouts, the mascot of Thanksgiving is always "Tom Turkey."
Where Did the Name Come From?
If you dig into where the name "Tom Turkey" comes from, you run into two very different explanations: one is a great piece of American folklore, and the other is a quirk of the English language.
The most popular story involves Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. As the rumor goes, Franklin desperately wanted the wild turkey to be the national bird of the United States instead of the bald eagle. Thomas Jefferson opposed the idea. Supposedly, Franklin was so annoyed with Jefferson that he started calling male turkeys "Toms" just to spite him. While it makes for a fantastic trivia fact, historians point out there is no actual proof Franklin ever did this, he never even formally proposed the turkey as the national bird, though he did praise its character in a letter to his daughter.
The real reason is a bit less dramatic. For centuries, English speakers have had a habit of slapping common human names onto male animals. Think about a male cat being called a "tomcat", or a male donkey being called a "jack". "Tom" became the standard, catch all label for several male creatures, and somewhere along the line, it stuck to the male turkey.
Even the word "turkey" itself is a case of mistaken identity. When European explorers first encountered the bird in the Americas, they confused it with a similar looking African guinea fowl that was imported to Europe through the country of Turkey. So, the name I get teased with every November is really just a combination of a generic English animal label and a 16th century geographical mix-up.
Surviving the Holiday
Knowing the history doesn't stop the jokes, of course. I know that as soon as the pumpkin pies come out, someone is going to ask if I have received a presidential pardon yet.
I suppose there are worse things than sharing a name with the centerpiece of a great meal. Still, when December finally arrives and the leftovers are gone, I am always relieved to go back to just being plain old Tom.
 |
| Find him on X @brogan78 | on Instagram | on Facebook | or on Youtube |