Names.

They sure can complicate things.  I think most people don’t like their names when they are young.  Kids can find anything to make fun of in a name.  But most of the time, as we get older, somehow we grow in to our names… and accept them.  Heck….. even LIKE them.

They say if you live in a glass house you shouldn’t throw stones.  Well, I can tell you… with a name like Polly Cecile Constance Kronenberger…. I better never cast a stone.  But I mostly like my name now.  Except when I have to sign a whole bunch of legal documents, or checks.  THEN, it becomes a little cumbersome.

But when it comes down to it, some names are just better than others.  Some, are downright awesome.  A few of my favorites include….

Wink Martindale
Weeb Ewbank
Greta Garbo
Fuzzy Zoeller
Babe Deidrickson
Boris Karloff
Bo Diddley
Tiki Barber
Red Skelton

Names pop into my head all the time… out of the clear blue.  I mean, I’ll be eating dinner, and right in the middle of a forkful of coleslaw… I will think… Maria Shriver.  Or Jay Leno. Or Christopher Lloyd.  Or whatever.  And I just shake my head and say “What the holy crap.  Now what the heck does that mean….?”   And then there are … some names I don’t care for at all.  It is probably more the person, than the name.

But our names can be a mixed bag.  I am glad to have a unique name, I think.  I don’t know that I would especially care for being a Mary Smith, or something.  Not than anything is wrong with either of those names, but I imagine it might complicate life on some levels.  Like there are probably 50 people named Mike Jones who have an account with Time Warner.  Maybe more.   The biggest hurdle I have when I call in about my accounts is spelling Kronenberger 4 or 5 times.

Hey….. Do you think Cavemen had names for one another?

Names… I’ll tell you.  Some names give certain people the one-up.  Like a guy who goes in to interview for the head of some IT Department somewhere.  If his name is Stephen Gates, he is probably going to have a better chance than Freddy Fadoozle.  But the long and short of it is this.  Our names shouldn’t matter in how we are treated…. no matter what might be attached to the “name”….

The old …. … you can’t judge a book by its cover… should go for names to.  There shouldn’t be any prejudgements, just because your name is associated with a certain family, or group, or region.

We should be seen for who we are.  Not the name on our label.

Now, “Name Calling” is an entirely different matter, which we will go into some other night.  But just for the record, I wish you all would quit calling me Big Dweeb.  I’m starting to act like one….