Power Laws, Weblogs, and Your Given Name

gummint writes "After contemplating the blogsphere and pondering whether "diversity plus freedom of choice creates inequality", consider an old-media domain name: the one your parents gave you. How did they choose it? How many other persons have the same one? Get some facts, or a lot of facts. Or just comment anyway. The good news is that the extent of inequality can change massively over time: the popularity of the most popular given names has decreased dramatically since the Industrial Revolution."

Comments

My name.

[grub]

When I was a lad still living on the Indian reserve I asked "Father, how did you name me?" he replied "Son, when a new child is born into our tribe, the father looks at the landscape and names the child after the first thing he sees.

I nodded "Ok, go on."

"For instance," my father continued, "your sister 'Soaring Eagle' was named after an eagle I saw high in the sky. Does this answer your question, Two Dogs Fucking?"

Re:My name.

[Em Emalb]

You forgot the ending.

IIRC, it goes a little something like this:

I shook my head in the affirmative.

"Good", he said, "Now go play with your sister, Broken Rubber."

Drugs & childbirth don't mix

[gila_monster]

My mother had this idea that she was going to name me Robert Keith, but call me Keith. My dad asked why they couldn't just name me Keith Robert. Mom said that it "didn't sound as good." Dad asked what difference it made how it sounds if nobody would use it that way. Dad's Lesson Learned: Do Not Argue With Pregnant Women. I think he slept in the garage.

At my birth, Mom took one look at me and decided that I was the spitting image of her grandfather. She decided to name me after him, so she called me Robert Scott. Problem is, her grandpa's name was DAVID. For a long time, I thought it must have been the painkillers talking, but Grandpa David was born in Scotland, and so everyone called him Scotty.

He *hated that. He thought it was akin to calling someone Polack, or Czech-boy, or Canook. He probably spins like a gyroscope every time someone uses my name.

Scott

Re:Screw my given name

[foxtrot]

I'm going to have my name legally changed to something 27 letters long with no vowels, just to watch people try to pronounce it.

Make it all vowels. With no vowels, people will just assume you're Polish.

Besides, AaaaaaaaaiiiIiiiIIEeeeeeEEE is a great name.

-JDF

Well...

[wiredog]

My last name is Case, and my father wanted to name me Justin. My mother threatened him with unspecified dire consequences.

Re:Well...

[HybridTheory]

Same story. Different Surname.

Justin Cider.

Re:Screw my given name

[Xerithane]

Come on Fhqwghads, everybody to the limit.

The Cheat is to the limit.

Re:Well as long as you're not Michael Bolton....

[catch23]

Actually I think the most applicable quote is this one:

Michael: Yeah, well, at least your name isn't Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know, there's nothing wrong with that name.
Michael: There WAS nothing wrong with it. Until I was about 12 years old, and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys.
Samir: Well, why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael?.
Michael: No way! Why should I change? He's the one who sucks!

How exactly is $$$$$exyGal pronounced?

[abh]

What exactly is the pronounciation? Is it something like "ka-ching gal"? :)

Re:Data from the government

[Anonymous Coward]

I applaud you for your courage in showing how unintelligent you are. That takes a lot of nerve. Most people would have read the heading that said "rank" and figured it out themselves without embarassment.

WTF?!?!

[aengblom]

Damn V-day! First, my bastion of geekness tells me I need a date. Now, one hour later, it tells me I have a kid and I have to name it.

ACK!