Would you name your kid Marijuana Pepsi?

If I created a fictional character named Marijuana Pepsi, you’d have every right to poke me in the eye, stomp on my foot, and push me into a raging river after saying something like, “Why not call her Cocaine Dr. Pepper?”

Speaking of doctors, Marijuana Pepsi Vandyck, age 46, recently earned her doctorate from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. Her dissertation topic: “Black names in white classrooms: Teacher behaviors and student perceptions.”

Ironically, the newly minted doctor does not drink Pespi or use Marijuana.

According to her website ActionAsEmpowerment.com, Dr. Vandyck (a.k.a. MP) is the owner and founder of Action as Empowerment, LLC, a life-strategy workshop, coaching and retreat business specializing in guiding committed clients towards outcome based results. She has nearly two decades of work experience in urban school districts, university settings, life-coaching, and real estate. Her PhD is in Leadership for the Advancement of Learning and Service in Education.

But back to the point: How in the world did she end up with a name like “Marijuana Pepsi”? Her Mom Maggie came up with that.

Here’s what MP told reporter Jim Stingl back in 2009: “(Mom) said that she knew when I was born that you could take this name and go around the world with it.”

Quite a prediction—and not far off.

Maggie went with tradition in naming her other daughters: Kimberly and Robin.

Turns out Marijuana Pepsi turned out to be a little like Johnny Cash’s “Boy Named Sue”—all the attention she got because of the unusual name challenged “the self-proclaimed introvert,” as described by CNN.

In addition to CNN, MP’s story has been covered over the years by many media outlets, including The Washington Post, The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, NBC’s “Today” show, the New York Post, Hollywood Life, and the Daily Mail (UK), which quoted her as saying, “I’ve grown into my name because I am a strong woman. I’ve had to be.”

And, of course, her name trended on Twitter—prompting some cannabis–users to wrongly assume that Pepsi had launched a new product.

So let’s ponder this for a moment: “What if Marijuana Pepsi had been named Marie Priscilla?” She might still get nicknamed MP, but her life would have no doubt been different in many ways—and we probably never would have heard of her.

All this makes me a little embarrassed to admit that I used to complain about being teased becasuse of my last name: Lamb. Turns out, I got off easy.

Right, Marijuana?

PHOTO SOURCE: Jeffrey Phelps/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/AP