The True Meaning Of Rex Grossman

When one talks about Chicago bears QB Rex Grossman, it is hard to ignore the awesomeness of his name. It sort of sits on the tongue like a warm piece of chocolate cake before leaving the mouth as a cool minty blast. But what does the name mean?

Easy one first, Rex, of course, is latin for "king." Grossman? Man means man. "Gross", however has many meanings. Here is the etymology of the word:

c.1347, from O.Fr. gros "big, thick, coarse," from L.L. grossus "thick, coarse (of food or mind)," of obscure origin, not in classical L. Said to be unrelated to L. crassus, which meant the same thing, or to Ger. gross "large," but said to be cognate with O.Ir. bres, M.Ir. bras "big." Its meaning forked in M.E., to "glaring, flagrant, monstrous" on the one hand and "entire, total, whole" on the other. Meaning "disgusting" is first recorded 1958 in U.S. student slang, from earlier use as an intensifier of unpleasant things (gross stupidity, etc.). Noun sense of "a dozen dozen" is from O.Fr. grosse douzaine "large dozen;" sense of "total profit" (opposed to net) is from 1523. Gross national product first recorded 1947.

So in order "Rex Grossman" could mean the following things:
"King Thickman"
"King Largeman"
"King Flagrantman"
"King Disgustingman"
"King 144man"
"King Totalman"

Whatever it is, it is certainly better than ND football coach Charlie Weis, whose name means, literally from the German, North Vietnamese Wheat.