Well we are still on here so I am guessing this to be an appropriate thread. I was shocked and gratified to see so many responses when I checked this morning.
I got my name when I went to be a vice principal in a Northern Alberta native community.
The principal and the board member who were responsible for hiring me over the phone are both firearms safety instructors. In their instructors training they had been frequently cautioned to ensure that everyone taking the course knew not to use smokeless powder in damascus shotgun barrels.
Andy, the principal, asked all of us new staff to email a picture for a newsletter. We had talked on the phone and he knew that like him I am an avid hunter and shooter.
When he and John, the board member, were looking at my picture John turned to Andy and said, "I wonder if that old guy (actually I was a youthful
54 at the time)has any damascus barrels".
When I finally met them they told me the story and the name stuck.