If I had given the boy this as a middle name, I know many would have thought it would be connected to the great Mandela.  It would have actually be inspired by Horatio Nelson, one of the greatest naval commanders in history and the reason why England doesn’t speak French.

Nelson was a physically frail man.  Blind in one eye, missing an arm, constantly sick, he also struggled with seasickness.   He did not look like a fearsome warrior at all. 

And that would be dead wrong.  

Nelson had what the Germans call fingerspitzengefuhl or fingertip feel – the ability to intuitively assess a situation and respond appropriately.  A quality that served him well in many key battles.  

He also knew how and when to disobey orders.  At one major engagement where he was the second-in-command, the lead admiral got spooked and ordered Nelson to stand down.  When one of his sailors informs him of the flag signal to withdraw, Nelson places the telescope to his blind eye and says that he really doesn’t see the signal.  He then wins the day.  

In the movie Master and Commander, there’s a scene where Captain Jack Aubrey / Russell Crowe narrates a story about Nelson to his staff.  Aubrey recalls a time when he heard Nelson talk about duty to King and Country, and from most people, it would be dismissed as empty sentiments, but from Nelson, you felt and believed it.

Nelson dies at the moment of his greatest victory – the Battle of Trafalgar.