In a VAN down by the RIVER
I've been AWOL awhile as I had oral surgery last week....so besides spending two days doped up on Vicodin, I've been chilling as much as possible so my stitches heal up nice and neat. I would never make a good drug addict because I dislike not being able to get my shi* together when I need to focus. Having worked on stucco control joints all week, I've been zoning out already (drug-free) at least every 20 minutes or so. Amongst my diversions is CNN. I know, it's not a proper way to screw around, but I don't want to get busted for shoe-shopping. I keep thinking about Matt Foley, Motivational Speaker, from SNL every time I hear about this Mark Foley scandal.
left:
Matt Foley, a.k.a. the late Chris Farley on SNL
right:
Former Congressman Mark Foley
I love how everyone goes to rehab now whenever any kind of bad publicity pops up. Rehab looks like summer camp from those late night commercials...they get to bond, and play out in nature....I'm sure it's intensive if you are really an addict, but hearing about how journalists are even trying to pretend they need treatment to sneak into the rehab center- to beat everyone to the scoop- is really impressive. Now that's dedication, and probably a screenplay in the making. Now who would play such a plucky and subversive reporter? hmm...I would say Tina Fey but if it's Foley we are after, it could be a male-only joint. Chris O'Donnell? As long as we are casting, I think Jeff Goldblum would have made a much more convincing Dr. Langdon in the DaVinci Code.
In the past week or so I've been hearing a lot about baby names lately as two people I know are expecting. It's interesting how people choose names. My manager likes 'melodic' sounding names...likely 3 syllables. I couldn't get him to go for Shyane'-neh, but I think I got him interested in Arianna. We discussed the chapter from Freakonomics where the trend towards bling names was discussed, names that either trickle down from the upper class or celebrities (i.e. Madison), or names that just sound rich. Like Lexus or Porsche. An American friend in Asia is working on naming all his children after the Sesame Street cast, although not exactly intentionally- so far he has Oscar and Ernest (Ernie), which I was surprised to admit I found adorable. My good friend on the east coast favors important-sounding sort of names that can be shortened to nicknames, like Sebastian or Alexander. I even had the discussion with her from Sex and the City, where we lay claim to names we've already reserved as top candidate names, even though any babies of mine are purely hypothetical. I was naturally appalled upon hearing that her husband has taken a liking to my boyname claim...hopefully I can argue that it doesn't flow well with his last name. For me, the name of anyone I dislike is already ruined, which is a pity. I've also never cared for androgynous/crossover names even if they didn't start out that way. I'm embarassingly sexist in that I like powerful, leadership sounding names for men (usually Greek or Roman sounding, funny huh?) and 2 syllable names that just sound pretty and sassy for women, although I've moved away from the super froufrou names I once liked in middle school, like Serena and Melinda. It's amazing also, how some names are so tied to a TV or movie character that even if I like it, the thought of the character ruins it for me. Such as Sophia, which I believe means wisdom...very nice...but then I think of the Golden Girls. egh...
So my few readers, what names have you always loved/hated?
posted by Woocraft @ 11:53 PM
3 Comments:
Hmmm...Right now I'm partial to Dashiell for a boy, Maeve for a girl. And I've also always liked the names Nathaniel and Frances. But it's hard to stake out imaginary baby names without having a surname locked down...rhythm is important, and I think about initials/monograms too.
That's a fun question. There are a few family names I'm partial to, like Frank (though I'd call him Frankie) and Kristopher. And then I've always liked Gino and Nicholai (Nico for short, pronounced NEE-koh) even though they are readily identified with cultures to which I have no connection. I like Henry just because the nickname Hank always sounded so cowboy sexy to me. But then I wouldn't exactly want to call my kid something I thought sounded sexy.
For girls I like Isabella and Tula (pronounced TOO-luh) and Yasmine. On that note, though, I have to side with Tamika. My married last name is Amin (Ah-MEEN), so we can't name a daughter Yasmine Amin! I also like Joaquin for a boy, but again, you can't have Joaquin Amin.
We've looked at Muslim names, and I like Ismael (I like Izzy for short), and Khalil for boys and Mariam and Sulekha (Soo-LAKE-uh) for girls so far.
But I think you just can't do this for real for real until you've seen the child, right? What if you're all hell bent on Maximilian and he comes out looking like a Fred?
Just an observation, but a lot of baby talk here. Is the belly calling?
For the record, I think the blog may have just killed my first choice for a girl's name: Sofia. My reason being, that, yes, it does mean wisdom, but as a Catholic, Sofia is the also the third part of the trinity (the holy spirit) and the only female respresenation of divinity. Maybe I'll still name her Sofia and just by her and nice handbag, get her a dog named Dorothy and make sure we don't live anywhere near Shady Pines.
If that doesn't work out, there's Isabella, too, but I might have to shorten for Isabel. I read somewhere that Isabella is expected to be the most popular girls name by 2025. That's the last thing a slacker mom like me will need. I just see myself at the park calling out her name and thirty little heads turning. As for reasons for Isabella or some derivation, it would be after Queen Isabella, the Spanish monarch who had her man whupped and shared equal power with him. (Yeah, I just haven't figured out how to explain that whole Inquisition part). Then Isabel is also the name of my favorite contemporary author, Allende.
For boys, Lucas. We might call him Luke, as in Skywalker. I know, I know. I need better reasons, there.
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