Dean's World

Carrol (with the two Rs) is hanging in there. We've had a couple splendid examples (admittedly both of an older generation) with Archie Bunker and the Shelby Cobras.

The only two that surprised me were Meredith and Evelyn. For many of the others, I know men with the names. All of them are at least 45.

I would have no problem naming a boy Jordan, Peyton, Tracy, Taylor or Dana.

Well, maybe Peyton.

You people forgot Kimberly.

Well, one thing's for sure. Never in the history of the human race was a girl named Arnold.

(Any of you want to call me a sexist over that snide remark? Just piss off.)

Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI

"Casey" seems to be going in that direction. I can't recall meeting a guy Caaey in while (although there's actor Casey Affleck) while I have met several gal Caseys. There's one at work in fact.

Oddly enough, every gal Casey I've met has been really good-looking.

Another oddly enough: I get called Stacey and Tracy quite a bit. No idea why people get those three names mixed up...

I personally think we should be allowed to change our names automatically at the age of 18 to whatever we want. When we try and come up with something "cool" to name our children, we've already started down the wrong path of trying to live vicariously through them. What's in a name....?

I personally think we should be allowed to change our names automatically at the age of 18 to whatever we want.

We can. The filing fee used to be around $50 in most jurisdictions. And I think in most jurisdictions you can also call yourself pretty much anything you want, as long as there's no attempt to defraud. The filing costs are only if you want to change your name in Social Security and military and similar records.

But I've seldom seen this turn out well. The people I know who opted for the name change route were almost always trying to rebel against or escape from their families, and the name change was a way to rub their noses in it. While I do understand that escaping some families is really smart, it always seemed like the folks who changed their names weren't really escaping, just wallowing. If you want to escape a bad family, just go. Don't sit around, demand they call you a different name, and think that's really sticking it to them. That's just keeping the fight going. Just leave. Git!

Name changes for marriage or divorce or adoption, I can see. Name changes after you leave the family, as a way to cut ties, I can understand. Name changes for spite or rebellion just show you're as screwed up as they are.

When I was a kid, there was a friend of mine whose father was named Allison. He usually went by Al.

Come to think of it, my friend's name (he was a he) was Kelly.

And I've known a man named Lynn. And a fellow named Courtney.

Sidney is another name moving femward. I've known two female Sidneys, the older would be a couple years older than myself, but according to some list it is now becoming a not uncommon girl's name.

John Wayne a Marion?

Yep. He was born Marion Morrison.

Ooh, I forgot to mention that one of the odder boy's names I every encountered was a guy named Kerry. I think it was kerry, rather than being spelled Kerri. IIRC it's traditional for i at the end to be female and y to be male in names that are otherwise the same, like Andy versus Andi, or Terri versus Terry. Both of which are normally short for other names like Andrew, Andrea, etc. I wonder if Kerry is one that was once common for males.

Sidney has actually been a female name for ages, to some degree. My late aunt through marriage went by her middle name, Jean, but her first name was Sidney. She'd be around 75 or so if she were still alive. Perhaps that could have been a regional thing; yet another factor in names. She was from Georgia.

Speaking of Jean, there's one that can be male, if rarely and normally only because of French influence. Gene short for Eugene merely sounds the same. Guys named Eugene are much in demand these days, hired to make faces so we can study Gene expression...

I think "Sam" is just Dean preparing everyone for naming his next one after a Day-by-Day character ;)

Names and timing are funny things. I felt extra-bad for the Director of Sstudent Housing when I was in college. He was named ... Kermit ... before the frog was popular.

Carol Reed, director of "The Third Man," "Oliver!," and lots of other movies, was a man who spelled it without the second "r."

I'm changing my name to Jamaal - just Jamaal. No last name. Call me Jamaal from now on.

Jamaal

Jafemaal