Daniel Haack: Hi. My name is Daniel Haack. It's funny because Daniel was one of the most powerful baby names in the U. S. the year I was born, but from preschool to high school there really weren't that many other Daniels at school. However, when I went away to college and started moving to different places, I started meeting a lot more Dans and Daniels.

My last name is Haack, which rhymes with snack or back or attack. It's a German last name. I have a lot of German and Dutch heritage on my father's side, while my mother's side is very English, Irish, Welsh and Swedish. My mother had traced back our ancestor pretty far back, including to an Archbishop of Canterbury from the 1200s, as well as the governor of Massachusetts during the Salem Witch Trials, and some of the founders of Harvard back in the 1600s. I went to Harvard for grad school, so it was really interesting to learn about my ancestors' role in creating the school. One of them was the original treasurer of the college, and he lived on the same street I did when I attended school there, which was very cool to learn.