Wanna Play A Name Game?

What’s in a name?

Who said that? Shakespeare? Or is that just a common question asked everyday by run-of-the-mill yo-yos like moi? According to a Shine Yahoo article on the internet, the most hated baby names for girls are Gertrude and Bertha. Duh. I can dig that. I would go to my deathbed regretting the fact that I had labeled my kid with one of those dumpy monikers (with apologies to all Gertrudes and Berthas).

I don’t regret naming my oldest daughter Gillie. When she was born I wanted her to be different, to stand out from the crowd. I got her name from the Hayley Mills movie Tiger Bay. I fell madly in love with Hayley Mills and her English accent when I saw the move as a teenager. Hayley’s movie name Gillie just stuck with me. The nuns at the Catholic hospital where my daughter was born fought me long and hard about naming her Gillie, but I stuck to my guns. Hopefully she hasn’t suffered too much teasing because her name is so different. My other daughter’s name is Heather, which is not so unusual, but I love her and her name too. Turns out, although I didn’t know it at the time, that Gillie and Heather are both of Scottish origin. Maybe I am a little bit Scottish on my grandmother’s side. I’m all Italian on my grandfather’s side.

You know Mila Kunis, the actress? There’s an unusual name; at least in my culture. How about Uma Thurman?

Women’s names I particularly like include Natasha and Tanya. I was in love with a Tanya when I was younger too. Tanya was older than me, but I used to daydream a lot about us being together. I like Leslie a lot. For some strange reason, I’ve always gotten along well with Kathy’s, Kathleens and Catherines too. So I married a Kathleen. Janet and Janice are good names too.

I did an internet search on my name awhile back. Do you know how many Jim Perkins there are in the world? Good Grief! And I always wanted to be special. Fortunately, a lot of guys named Jim Perkins have accomplished some pretty good things. When I was younger I thought I would like to be named Terry. But after getting to know a couple of Terrys - NOPE. And it seems like every Richard I’ve known turned out to be a real turkey.

I’ve never cared for the name Ralph for a man. I’m not crazy about Howard either. And how about Butch? No. No. No. I’ve got a brother David and a brother Peter and I like those names (I like my brothers too). Andy and Barney are cool too. Why do you suppose I like those names? I have a nephew named Three and I like that name a lot. He’s the third generation, not the senior nor the junior, but the third. So we call him “Three.” Cool huh? Hopefully, he’ll think it’s cool when he grows older.

I like the name Sam. I love my dog and his name fits him to a T.

To answer the question, “What’s in a name?” I think we like or dislike certain names mainly because of our associated memories that go along with them. Get it Bud?

A bag of poop on bad names. But if a name is yours, you probably don’t dislike it (hopefully) and that’s good on you mate.

Just One of Those Dang Jims

Dang. It’s hard to be one of a kind, to be unique in the world, to not be just another Jim Perkins with the same name as thousands of other guys. But being a Jim Perkins is almost as common as being a Smith.

Sam is looking at me as if to say, “Well, you don’t like it, get off. You’re lucky your name isn’t Sam.”

Of course I can’t voluntarily get off the world unless I commit suicide, which I’m not going to do, and I can’t change my name without going to court and spending a lot of valuable time and money pursuing something that probably would provide no more than a negligible return anyway, if any.

Besides, what would I change my name to? I’ve thought a few times that I might change my last name to Powell. That’s what I was for the first 14 years of my life then I was adopted by my stepfather and became Perkins. During high school, I was really glad my last name hadn’t moved out of the Ps because my girlfriend’s last name started with a P and in classes we took together and in our yearbook we were always right beside each other -which I thought was pretty romantic.

I Googled Jim Perkins and James Powell recently just for the heck of it and wow. So many guys were named Jim Perkins and James Powell. I can’t be one of a kind or unique no matter how hard I try. I guess that’s why I write books and post this blog. Trouble is, even being an author is not unique. You know how many other guys out there are writing books and blogs. Crap!

In my search for Jim Perkins I found a singer/songwriter in Atlanta, Georgia; an Irish folk singer in Detroit, Michigan; a composer and producer of contemporary cinematic sound tracks in England; a chief executive officer and highly successful video game entrepreneur; a professor of art who specializes in illustrating biomedical matter and has provided illustrations for more than 40 books; a former general manager of Chevrolet and member of the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky; attorneys, athletes - whew!. The list just goes on and on. At page 2 of my Google search I found hundreds of pictures of Jim Perkins guys, including a picture of Sam and me. Far out.

In my search for James Powell I found a former baseball player, a British novelist, a film maker, a glassmaker, an announcer for the Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves. Again, the list was way longer, I just can’t mention everybody named James Powell here.

So, I guess I’m not so special or unique. I’ll just have to live with that. At least a good many of the people named Perkins or Powell were creative people and not politicians or wanted felons. Like I’ve said many times before (quoting Popeye again), I y’am what I y’am. I suppose that will have to be enough.

Only one bag of poop on not being special or unique; it’s not bad enough for three bags.