Now and again something like this happens and it’s kind of humbling/flattering/awesome all at once. These, and letters from active duty servicemen and servicewomen, are among the emails I treasure the most (though I appreciate all reader mail; except the ones with nude selfies that I get from that one dude; STOP IT, BRO! ;-)).

Reprinted with permission:

“Dear Paul,

On March 1st 2012 my second child was born. During my pregnancy we did not know the gender so my husband and I had a list of possible names to choose from once the baby was born. He suggested if it was a boy to name him Erevis Cale. My oldest son’s name is Lucian and I wanted to stick with the unique for our children’s names. As soon as he suggested it I started thinking of nicknames. “We could call him Errie!”

As soon as they showed my little boy to me I knew he was Erevis. Since his birth my husband has had me read the Uskevren books along with both trilogies about Erevis Cale. I am looking forward to reading The Godborn as well. I’m certainly glad that after naming him and then reading the books I fell in love with Erevis Cale. I find him to be a very intriguing character. The more I read about him the more I started to wonder. I went on several baby name websites to see if I could find anything about the name Erevis. Of course there was nothing. I did a generic search for the meaning of Erevis and again nothing. I was hoping you would tell me what the inspiration of the name Erevis Cale is. How did you create him? I would love to know and I’m sure some day my little Erevis Cale would like to know as well.”

I explained that “Erevis” is a riff on the Greek word, “Erebus,” which is the name for a primordial deity of darkness and shadow. “Cale” has no particular meaning, but I chose it because I liked the sound of it: the hard C, the long A, and the one syllable sounded sharp as a blade to me, and very masculine (which fits the character).

I know there are Draseks out there, too, and Rivens, and at least one Kesson. Let me repeat: Very humbling, and incredibly awesome.