The day Apollo 11 landed on the moon 40 years ago, it inspired Eddie Lee McGhee to name his newborn daughter after the lunar lander. But he didn't name her Eagle. He named her Module.
Module McGhee turned 40 on Monday. She's a mother and special education teacher, and she's always loved her unusual name.
"My name has opened the door in some places," said McGhee, who lives in Columbus, Ga. She says it's even helped in job interviews, giving her something unusual to chat about with prospective bosses.
Her dad says, "I thought it was appropriate for a name and appropriate for the event." The story of baby girl Module McGhee went worldwide 40 years ago. She was mentioned in Norman Mailer's book, "Of a Fire on the Moon." Module tried to contact Mailer just days before his death two years ago.
McGhee's dad wanted to name her Lunar Module McGhee, but her mom vetoed it because it didn't quite sound right. And Module is thankful.
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If she grew up with the first name Lunar, she thinks she would have been teased, being called a lunatic. But during her Memphis childhood, no one teased her much about her first name. Really. Her mom called her by the nickname Modg, rhymes with "lodge," but to everyone else, she was just plain Module.
The only trouble is that some people can't figure out how to pronounce it, saying, Model, Modula or Modurl.
In case you're not clear about that, it's MOD-yule, just like the lunar lander.
