During a 6th grade sleepover with one my best friends, we were musing in the dark about our futures. Silly things became hilarious, as they do in the wee hours (or earlier hours if you're under the influence), and we speculated on the reasons people try to come up with unusual, funky, grand or pseudo-ethnic sounding names. Perhaps their parents thought that these names portent success or fame or whatnot (great chapter in Steven Levitt's Freakonomics about this). And how we thought the kids with those names would suffer in school because their names are, in fact, stupid. I won't give any examples 'cuz sure enough, some random person named Dimple or Senator will stumble upon this blog and get irate. Anyway, we decided that we would give our children mundane names that won't build up anyone's expectations or give false hope, and might actually reflect the dull lives our children were likely to actually live. Names like ... Shovel. And Plug. As in Shovel Rathberger and Plug Garcia. We had others, they just aren't coming to me at this time. Seemed hilarious then.
This friend and I got together a year or so ago - decades have gone by - between us we have four children, none of them named after garden utensils or electrical outlets. No Dimples or Senators either. We reminisced about our ideas concerning the naming our kids and ... still hilarious. To us anyway.
P.S. It may have been seventh grade.
About Me
- plug
- Having enjoyed fifteen months in Nova Scotia, I returned to the midwest in 2008 to helm a listing ship, plug its leaks, and set a new course. So far, I've reduced the leaks by about 2/3, the rats have mostly abandoned ship, and I'm turning the rudder slowly. A lot of the crew has changed, but there's no immediate threat of mutiny.
2 comments:
I'm a big believer in the impact of a name and the way it affects a person's entire life. A name affects people's perceptions of someone and furthermore the way they treat that person. Hence, you'll never see a president named Asia or a stripper named Agnes.
Great start to the blog. I'll be checking up on you. Try to live with the pressure!!!
That is why I am happy my parents named me Q, it is short, sweet, to the point and a bit mysterious.
I would have also enjoyed the name Dutch, just 'cause that is a great name.
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