Officiating equipment

[Danvrapp]

New hockey official (relevant) here because I have a son playing squirt hockey (irrelevant) and it looked fun. Looking at outfitting myself with officiating gear, and I'm unsure on a few things...

Would I be the only official out there wearing shin guards/elbow pads from my playing days...as opposed to buying/wearing "officiating" shin guards. Are they even going to fit well under my pants/sweater?

Did I buy a cheap whistle? I'm used to hearing the sound of a Fox40, and the cheap sounding pea whistle sounds, well, cheap. Are all hockey officiating whistles going to sound 'cheap?' It was an $8 whistle.

Looking at the officials in my area (and again, my sample space includes only officials working squirt level games), I'd say 25% of 'em have their name stenciled on the back of their jersey. Is this a requirement, is this personal preference, or is this some type of indicator that they also work upper level games?

Thanks for the insight!