Parents usually strive to choose the best name for their children, considering it as a crucial first gift reflecting identity, often considering meaning, family heritage, cultural fit, ease of pronunciation, how it sounds with the surname and its suitability for both childhood and adulthood. However, a Canadian couple set a different sort of example in this regard as the parents named their identical triplets A, B and C!

In fact, the three brothers – Andrew A Meloff, Quentin B Meloff and Joel C Meloff – were given middle names that were just letters: A, B, and C, corresponding to the order in which they were born. The Meloff brothers were born just 45 seconds apart in Toronto 31 years ago.

Suzanne Lyons and Rick Meloff, the parents of the triplets, recently revealed that they had to make this unusual choice after the doctor informed them that Suzanne was pregnant with triplets. As the doctor used to refer to the babies as ABC during ultrasounds, the Meloff family got accustomed to it. Later, the nurses, too, suggested the parents use A, B and C as middle names of their babies, and Suzanne and Rick agreed without much thought.

Talking to the media, Quentin has stressed that their parents have been calling them A, B and C since birth. “Our parents were already stressed about having three babies at once, so they decided to outsource the naming decision. The nurses gave the idea, and our parents went with it,” he added. He also said: “At the time they had much larger fish to fry, they had three kids in one shot and it was a stressful experience for them. If they were going to outsource anything it was a fair thing to outsource.” According to Quentin, they looked so alike that even he struggled to identify himself in old photos until he was 12. As their parents found it challenging as well, they painted toenails of each child with different colours for a quick identification.

Meanwhile, Quentin has admitted that their single-letter middle names not only created many surprising, memorable, as well as awkward, moments, but also caused challenges. Immigration officers frequently question him for his unusual single-letter middle name. During his recent trip to New York, Quentin faced multiple questions that prompted him to remove his middle name from his passport, although legally his middle name remains B.

The triplets were born on July 21, 1994 and appeared, alongside Mark Ruffalo, in a television programme, called Due South, when they were just nine months old. “My mum and dad loved working with him (Ruffalo). It was one of those things in TV shows especially when they are looking for child actors and to replace babies as fast as possible,” stressed Quentin. He has claimed that he and his brothers did a lot of advertisements and were pitched to do a number of film roles, including horror movie Chucky. “Our parents turned it down, because they thought once they put us into makeup and costume, we could not play the role anymore. We’d be too scared,” added Quentin.

When asked whether he and his brothers have a much higher chance of having triplets of their own, Quentin replied: “The probability increases from one in 500,000 to one in 300,000. So, it is very unlikely. My dad used to joke if all three of us had triplets he’d find a way to run away. If the opportunity arises, it would be quite cool, but the likelihood is quite rare.”

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das