March 19, 2008 03:06 pm
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SMALL TALK
By Tracy Chesney
Mickey Money asked me to write about how people come up with weird names for their babies, and why don’t they name them regular names? Well, Mickey, I haven’t a clue.
Maybe some people have no common sense or maybe mommies-to-be have their hormones so out of whack that they can’t come up with any other name but Camera, Blanket, Pilot Inspector or Wolfgang.
Apparently, movies stars are known for coming up with unusual baby names such as Audio Science, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, Jermagisty or Princess Tiaamii.
Some stars are even naming their babies after countries or states such as London, Ireland or Montana. Maybe they should name their babies Kansas City, Wyoming or Texas.
Apparently, I named my kids the right names because their names appeared in the 20 most popular names according to what year they were born in.
Way to go, Tracy!
Some families like to rhyme their children’s names or have each child’s name start with the same letter of the alphabet such as Apple and Apricot, which sounds a little fruity, but clever nonetheless.
Some people tend to stick to tradition and name their babies after family members.
This is for all the older people, me included. Remember the old television series, The Dick Van Dyke Show? In one episode, Rob and Laura’s son, Richie, asked why his middle name was Rosebud.
Simple.
After a dispute among family members on what the couple should name their baby, the couple was torn because they wanted to please everybody.
So Rosebud was a combination of seven different family names -- Robert Oscar Sam Edward Benjamin Ulysses David. Problem solved.
I wouldn’t dare name a male child Rosebud. Just imagine all the suffering he must have gone through with a middle name like that. Good thing it was only a comedy show.
My sons didn’t like what my daughter was going to call their first baby had it been a boy. So, they decided one night that whether their sister had a boy or girl, they were going to call the baby “Joey” for the rest of her life. So, every now and then the boys still call Hannah “Joey.”
Speaking of Joey, March 27 is National Joe Day, a day in which you can change you’re name for the day, preferably to Joe or if you’re a girl, Josephine. Why not Bob, David or Christina? Because apparently everybody likes the name Joe.
I’m a bit prejudiced to the name Joe because my dad’s name is Joe but poor thing; he didn’t care much for his middle name Oliver.
I know lots of Joes including Joe Knight, Joe Wright, Joe Johnson and Joe DeGarso. These guys are pretty cool because Joe Knight is a minister, Joe Wright is an amputee who rides his scooter every day to see his wife in a nursing home and Joe Johnson, who I believe is in his 70s, belongs to a bicycle club and will ride anywhere from 20-40 miles a day and Joe DeGarso will do anything, including dressing in drag, to help out the Special Olympics team.
So, if you’re name is Joe or you want to change you’re name to Joe, then you’re considered Joe Cool. How cool is that.
According to one Web site, it said that mothers should have the last say on what to name their baby because she’s the one that has to carry it around for nine months. This site also encouraged parents not to name their babies until after they see their baby for the first time so that the babies’ names would fit their personalities.
I only know of one man whose name fits his personality and that’s a local DJ, Friendlee, because Friendlee is the friendliest person you’d ever meet.
Correct I if I’m wrong, but I think Friendlee had his name legally changed, so I have no idea what is real might have been.
By the way, there aren’t too many popular people named Mickey except for Mickey Mantle. However, Mickey Mouse seems to be the most popular name in the world.
And one last tidbit of useless information, Walt Disney, who was afraid of mice, wanted to name the mouse Mortimer, but his wife talked him out of it.
Count your blessings, Mickey.
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