Meet Nike, my little plastic chicken.

Nike sits in front of me each day, right below my computer monitor. Whenever I face a fearful situation, this yellow toy chicken reminds me to face my fear and  “Just Do It”.

So, OK, my Nike was kinda named after THAT Nike. But the original Nike is a winged Greek goddess. How cool is that?

Since I look at my plastic Nike so much, I figured I should learn a bit more about the goddess Nike. This is what I discovered:

Nike 

• Greek goddess of victory and success.
  • Also goddess of strength and speed, depending on your source.
• Has wings.
• Strong.
• Fast on foot and by air.
• Brave.
  • She was the first to come forward when Zeus asked for assistance in his war against the Titans.
  • Led Zeus into battle by being his official chariot driver, or charioteer.
• Protector of Athena
  • Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill.
• The founder of Nike, Inc. purposely chose the name in honor of the goddess.
• All branding of Nike, Inc. flows from the mythology of the goddess.
  • Aside: Nike, Inc’s mission: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete* in the world. *If you have a body, you are an athlete.
    • I can support that.
• My middle name stems from Nike. No, I’m not going to tell you what it is.

This list makes me happy. I’m especially pleased to be named after a brave goddess of success and strength, not to mention the protector of wisdom, courage, inspiration, and skill. May I live up to such a name.

And to think, I learned all this from a plastic chicken.

When was the last time you learned neat stuff from an unexpected source? Share in the comments below.

*Photo credit for bottom, goddess photo: Jim D. Woodward, Flickr Creative Commons