I was about 20 minutes away from being Merlin Waylon XXXXXXX, but my parents chickened out at the last minute. I was relieved up until about 8th grade, knowing that going through elementary school named "Merlin" would have been f'n dreadful, but about 9th grade I realized I woulda rawked the fuck outta Merlin.
Merlin would be difficult for anyone to pull off but I think you could have, maybe done so. I've never met a Merlin and it's hard to envision a "young" Merlin. You may have ended up Merl.
Very good memories cruising/flying around the country side in GTA: San Andreas to this song; that game gave me a serious appreciation for old-school country and had an amazing line-up for it's country station. I was actually disappointed they didn't bring it back in GTA V.
My earliest memory's of having a "song" that I loved was this one. A friend of the family was a guitar playing minister that would play this song around my grandparents kitchen table with everyone singing along. I loved it. I always asked him to play it. Great memories for me.