[Durbin]

“I asked the question.”

You did, and I said just because someone has a nickname they go by doesn’t mean they’re ashamed of their birth name. Why don’t you ask Ted the question, since obviously nobody here can answer your loaded question correctly.

[af_vet_1981]

Why don’t you ask Ted the question, since obviously nobody here can answer your loaded question correctly.

I'm reluctant to contact Rafael, or "Ted" as you call him because they would open up new avenues for him to solicit funds from me ... another Heidi email. I assume you already contribute. If you please, at your next contribution, ask him why he does not use the name he was born with.

[af_vet_1981]

I found something ...

2. Ted Is Actually Not His Real Name

When he was 13, Cruz decided to change his name to “Ted.”

Born Rafael Edward Cruz, he’d gone by the nickname “Felito” most of his life. Cruz describes the nickname often resulted in him being teased. He refers to that time of his life as a time where he was an “unpopular nerd.”

“The problem with that name was that it seemed to rhyme with every major corn chip on the market. Fritos, Cheetos, Doritos and Tostitos- a fact that other young children were quite happy to point out,” Cruz wrote.

Cruz wrote that his mother gave him the idea to change his name: “‘Ted’ immediately felt like me. But my father was furious with the decision. He viewed it as a rejection of him and his heritage, which was not my intention.”