Okay, here’s a short one at the end of a long week (for me…it’s amazing how the theory of two kids pales so dramatically to the reality of two kids).

We’ve all heard the scuttlebutt about Matthew McConaughey wanting to name his kid Budweiser (and that his brother did name his kid Miller Lyte…nice). That’s its own topic and certainly lends some support to Michael’s theory about bad baby names being the fault of the men. Anyway, I did a check on Ancestry.com and was disappointed by both Budweiser and Miller Lyte. I did, however, find a Bud Weiser:

This guy must have been in a circus or something. He shows up in Ohio in 1910 as a lodger and lists “Singer” as his profession. Everyone around him are singers, acrobats, comedians, and the like. It’s an interesting list. (One of them is named “Fread Great.” In the context, I wonder if it was supposed to be “Fread the Great.” We’ll never know).

There was also a girl named Miller Light in the 1910 census, at least according to the index, but the image is distorted and so I’m not going to open myself up to the experts on that one.

Oh, and incidentally, my co-author Michael Sherrod is going to appear on The Today Show on Monday to talk about the book, so check it out.

Posted: March 14th, 2008 under Name Highlight, Name Media.
Comments: 2

Two days ago, my wife (who rocks, by the way) gave birth to our second son:

 What did we name him?

Dungeon Dragon Gygax of course.

…

Just kidding. Actually, his name’s Eli. Man, wouldn’t it rock to have a kid named Dungeon Dragon? According to my co-author, Michael Sherrod, men often want to name their kids funny things, which is why I say that and my awesome wife rolls her eyes. (Michael’s example is giving your kid the middle name “danger.” No really, check out the article about us in the New York Times, if you haven’t already. I just saw it today because, well, my wife was having a baby.)

Incidentally, there is no one in the U.S. federal census named Dungeon and only a smattering of Dragons. Too bad, I guess.

Posted: March 12th, 2008 under Name Media, Nothing Special.
Comments: 10

Here are a couple of videos of different interviews I did in Utah to promote the book. I’m sort of a shy guy and this is a little humiliating, but I hope you enjoy them.

Good Things Utah, ABC



Morning News, CBS



Posted: March 7th, 2008 under Book, Name Media.
Comments: 1

Okay. We’ve seen some occurences of weird and bad names, momentary losses of good judgment (depending on how you look at it). Now we’re going to see a descent into naming madness.

So here’s a family (the Walkers) from Alabama as they show up in the 1860 U.S. federal census. Note the names of their sons: Bud, Little Bud, Buddy, Little Buddy, and Least Buddy. I thought it was bad that my wife and all her sisters have the same middle name. I can’t imagine family dinner at the Walker house: “Bud, stop hitting your brother! No, not you Little Bud, you’re not doing anything wrong! No wait, did I say Bud? I meant Buddy! Buddy, stop hitting Little Buddy. Least Buddy, stop crying!”

I guess it speeds things up when they’re all being bad.

Thanks to Ginger from Prattville, Alabama for this one. She posted this comment in the RootsWeb Review, a weekly newsletter from RootsWeb.com. They always have fun name stuff, so if you want you can subscribe and check it out.

Posted: February 26th, 2008 under Name Fun, Name Highlight.
Comments: 1