I chose Asa as my son's given name. I considered a lot of names, maybe, oh, 8-10 thousand-- and everyone seems really happy with that one, as does Asa.
Since then, I've thought off and on about how there are names we give our children that, well, they just aren't much to live up to. You have to look at common names afresh to see what I'm talking about. Take Matt. As in... Wipe your shoes on that mat. See what I mean?
How about Mark? Who made this mark here? Get in here and clean it up right now!
It happens with girls' names. Dot. Pat. Here's one -- Midge. Now that's almost too obvious. Surely a parent would think better of that along the way.
What about Ali? Sheesh, we can only hope the Katz family sees the folly in that.And imagine you name your kid Guy. If you're French and into Karate, sure, you could say it was the name of your Karate bathrobe thing. But if it's plain old American Guy, it's like you're offering up to the world the bare minimum. Who's your son? Oh, just some guy.
One I really snicker about is Nat. I know Nat's parents didn't think about it. If I were Nat, I'd start spelling it Gnat in college. And then I would use this for my avatar:
 | |
| Fungus Gnat - Adult |
There are a few names that should have fallen out of circulation naturally: Fanny. Now come on. John, Dick, Peter. These need no further explication.
There are so many more -- I know because I once made a big long list of Names That Aren't Much to Live Up To when I was particularly bored.
Right now, I'm not that bored. And you'll run across more. You'll think of it when you meet someone named, say, Tad.
Postscript: I had Asa after a 36-hour, contractions 2-minutes apart, train wreck of a delivery. Luckily there was a doctor there who was aces with the forceps. When he got that baby out, I said, omigod, I feel like naming him after you, what's your name? And he said, Todd. So I said, Ehh, what's your middle name?
ReplyDeleteTrue story.
Ha ha, poor doctor.
ReplyDelete"Dick" is especially perplexing because it's usually a nickname, as in, that person doesn't need to go by it. I've always wondered why, if you have a last name like Trickle or Swett, you would go by "Dick" and not "Richard" or "Rick". I mean, seriously.
If my name were Richard Bender or Richard Hertz, I might go the Dick route so that when someone questioned it, I could say, 'What?? Omigod, I never thought of that!"
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. Isn't it great to get comments? Miss you, tapu