What's in a name?

Early.  It is a common word in the English language.  People say it all of the time.  Early education.  Early afternoon.  The early bird gets the worm.  Yet, whenever someone asks for my last name, be it in a store, at a hotel, or over the phone, and I respond with "Early," it is as if I am introducing them to a new sanskrit word.  In these situations I am usually met with the retort of "How do you spell that?"  My response is always "Early... Like early in the morning."  I don't know when it began, or why it happened, but my guess is that it was sometime in my teens, when I felt like I had fielded that questions enough times, and my sarcasm was beginning to take bloom.  Could I respond differently?  Sure, but this one seems to work.  I could always go the route of my amazing wife, who has only had to live with this question for 1/3rd as long as I have, and respond with "Early, like the word."  Yeah, her gift of sarcasm was fully developed by the time she had to begin answering inquisitions into her new surname.  I spent a lot of time trying to pick out a name for this blog, but when I said this one, it just felt right.  Early... Like early in the morning.