# Dylan Storm Roof's middle name **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860 "2015-07-11T15:50:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/41 "2015-07-14T18:31:34Z")
[Maybe it is a family name](http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gsr&GSln=storm&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSob=n&GSsr=41&df=all&). Lots of people have family surnames as a middle name. ---
**Author:** ![jz78817](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jz78817/32/1028_2.png) [@jz78817](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jz78817)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/42 "2015-07-14T23:51:43Z")
“Storm” as a name (either first or middle) tends to have redneck-y connotations to me. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/43 "2015-07-15T02:20:10Z")
I went to high school with a girl named Stormy, and her family weren’t Nazis, as far as I could tell. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/44 "2015-07-15T03:32:02Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I went to high school with a girl named Stormy, and her family weren’t Nazis, as far as I could tell. Mabye she was pole-ish. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2015, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/45 "2015-07-15T11:59:00Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I went to high school with a girl named Stormy, and her family weren’t Nazis, as far as I could tell. Nobody is saying that ALL people named Storm or Stormy are Nazis. The question is about this particular murderer who obviously is a racist Nazi, the question being who named him Storm and why. ---
**Author:** ![Merneith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/57b2e6/32.png) [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/46 "2015-07-16T01:40:13Z")
> [@doorhinge](#): > > You haven’t explained how the name “Storm” clearly has Nazi connotations? 😕 [Post #6, dude.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18509293&postcount=6) The Nazi used the word “Storm” in a number of different ways, with the German spelling Sturm. The Nazis used the word Storm for a military rank, various weapons, and various groups. Of course, not all people with the name Storm are related to Nazis, but it’s not unreasonable to wonder if there’s a connection, given other things that Roof has said. ---
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/47 "2015-07-16T02:19:54Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > The question is about this particular murderer who obviously is a racist Nazi :rolleyes: So obviously a racist Nazi that he said this: “I myself would have rather lived in 1940’s American than Nazi Germany, and no this is not ignorance speaking, it is just my opinion. So I dont blame the veterans of any wars up until after Vietnam, because at least they had an American to be proud of and fight for.” From [his manifesto](http://lastrhodesian.com/data/documents/rtf88.txt) ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/48 "2015-07-16T02:51:54Z")
> [@lalaith](#): > > :rolleyes: > So obviously a racist Nazi that he said this: > “I myself would have rather lived in 1940’s American than Nazi Germany, and no this is not ignorance speaking, it is just my opinion. So I dont blame the veterans of any wars up until after Vietnam, because at least they had an American to be proud of and fight for.” > > From [his manifesto](http://lastrhodesian.com/data/documents/rtf88.txt) I think in this context “Nazi” means “person who is motivated by racism to kill other people” rather than “member of the actual Nazi party which hasn’t existed for three quarters of a century.” Although he clearly wasn’t a grammar Nazi. ---
**Author:** ![dflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dflower/32/3270_2.png) [@dflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dflower)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/49 "2015-07-16T03:04:29Z")
Here in Charleston we have the Storm Eye Institute at the Medical University of SC. It is a family name of good standing in SC. Storm Eye Institute’s future is built on an impressive heritage. This began in 1961 when a generous gift by Mrs. Albert Florens Storm helped establish an institute for the treatment of and research in eye disorders. From the MUSC website I don’t know if the family is related to the Roof family. It is entirely possible. ---
**Author:** ![lalaith](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@lalaith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalaith)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/50 "2015-07-16T15:14:48Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > I think in this context “Nazi” means “person who is motivated by racism to kill other people” rather than “member of the actual Nazi party which hasn’t existed for three quarters of a century.” I think in the context of this thread which is about the actual German WWII Nazis and if the name “Storm” is related to them, I’d take “Nazi” to specifically mean those German WWII Nazis. If the poster was using a wider definition of Nazi, he should have made that clear. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/51 "2015-07-16T15:57:01Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Some people get a middle name from a family last name. So maybe his mother’s family was named Storm. His mother’s name was [Amy Coles Roof](http://radaronline.com/celebrity-news/church-shooter-dylann-storm-roof-parents-divorce/). I’m not saying that Storm couldn’t have been a family name (and it’s not clear from the article I linked to what her maiden name was), but it’s not readily apparent. [QUOTE=dflower] Here in Charleston we have the Storm Eye Institute at the Medical University of SC. It is a family name of good standing in SC. Storm Eye Institute’s future is built on an impressive heritage. This began in 1961 when a generous gift by Mrs. Albert Florens Storm helped establish an institute for the treatment of and research in eye disorders. From the MUSC website I don’t know if the family is related to the Roof family. It is entirely possible. [/QUOTE] Unlikely. From what little history I can gather from a few websites online, his parents were poor. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/52 "2015-07-17T11:42:36Z")
This [article in the NY Times about his background](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/17/us/charleston-shooting-dylann-roof-troubled-past.html?ref=us) indicates that his parents were open-minded people. It doesn’t say where his middle name came from, but I think the theory that his parents were Nazis has been disproven. ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860/53 "2015-07-17T13:51:34Z")
> [@Merneith](#): > > [Post #6, dude.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18509293&postcount=6) > > The Nazi used the word “Storm” in a number of different ways, with the German spelling Sturm. The Nazis used the word Storm for a military rank, various weapons, and various groups. > > Of course, not all people with the name Storm are related to Nazis, but it’s not unreasonable to wonder if there’s a connection, given other things that Roof has said. There’s nothing wrong with asking questions. The OP presents a good question. I question the use of the word “clearly”. If you add Post #6 to the other posts in this thread that clearly suggest there are other possibilities for choosing the name _Storm_, there is nothing “clear” about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dylan-storm-roofs-middle-name/724860.md?page=2)