Predestination? Zefram is already IN Bozeman!

 ... First Contact Day, Part II...

As a lark, I called the Bozeman Daily Chronicle today just to check whether there were any local First Contact Day celebrations or even fan meetups—with Bozeman, Mont., thanks to its connection as a hometown of writer Brannon Braga, being the site of first contact with Vulcans after Zefram Cochran's Phoenix warp drive test on April 5, 2063. (Of course, you know that.)

But no, said City Editor Mike Becker, who answered the phone at the paper: no FC events in Bozeman.

Then came the REAL story, out of the blue:

Mike, it turns out, IS a Star Trek fan—as is his wife. He cheerfully volunteered that fact, and then dropped this bombshell:

"In fact, we named my son 'Zefram," he said with a chuckle, speaking of his 16-month-old (above). "If he really gets on it, here in another 50 years or so, we just might have a warp drive."

Yes, indeed! Mike explained that he and his wife Susan Andrus both chose the name, gave him the last name "Andecker" as an amalgam of their last names ...

... and then gave him the middle name of SCOTT. 'Nuff said.

"We decided we wanted to give him a unique name that didn't sound terribly weird," Mike explained. "In fact, most people don't even realize the connection to Star Trek, and take it for some sort of biblical name.

"The people who DO make the connection, however, think it's awesome!" Doubly so, of course, considering where the young man and his parents live—which will also, of course, be site of the Warp 5 Complex R&D center, staffed in part by Dr. Henry Archer.

Mike does share, too, that his son gets called mostly Zef or Zeffie.

This pic, passed along by proud papa, is from Zef's first birthday party last December.  Obviously, he's contemplating the dilithium matrix formula, even now....