Johnny Cash Trivia: The story goes that Cash’s parents were indecisive about what their fourth child’s name should be. His mother’s maiden name was Rivers, and she stumped for that; his father’s name was Ray, and he held out for that. “J.R.” was a shortcut to avoid conflict. It was not uncommon for Southern kids to have names made of initials in the days of the Depression, and Cash was called J.R. all through his childhood (except to his father, who nicknamed him “Shoo-Doo”). He was still J.R. even after he graduated high school; “J.R.” is the name on his diploma. It wasn’t until Cash joined the Air Force in 1950 that he had to assign himself a name. The recruiter would not accept a candidate with a name comprised of initials, so J.R. became “John R. Cash.”
