A little known fact about the Romney name.

It would appear that his Great, Great grandaddy coined the name from his association with the Republican party when Utah was trying to get statehood. He was a leader in the Mormon church but more importantly, he was dyslexic. Yes, he was Dyslexic. He was also from the southeastern part of Europe where the names are particularly hard to spell and pronounce. He found it necessary to change his name like many millions of others from that region who came to America.

Seems he was well respected and trusted, so much so he was given the task of lobbying for statehood amongst the majority Republican Congress back in the late 19th century. Anyone familiar with lobbying in those days knows that it was even more like bribery than today's corrupt campaign finance system.

Anyway, his task was to take money to Washington for the payoff to the Republican senators and representatives. Another member of the church was charged with providing the payoff money for Democrats ... but the biggest pile was set aside for the Republicans so this was the most responsible job in the delegation.

This was a true quirk of fate.

The man was passing out the cash and had put the elder's first name down and then, skipping a couple of columns, put in the amount.

There wasn't enough room for the notation of what the money was about so in the column after his first name, his initial (for his impossible to spell his name) the secretary noting the disbursement put down Romney instead of Rmoney.

Mitt's great great grand dad saw it, liked it and adopted the name Romney because it made him feel good to know it actually means Republican money ... Rmoney.

So, the rest of the story is that whole family name should really be Rmoney ... and they've enjoyed Republican money ever since. It is an inside joke.

pubby

Source: How did Romney get his name?