My parents played it safe. As you can see by this graphic, which I found on some random, questionable website, Jeff/Jeffrey was enjoying its highest level of popularity around the time I did a forward-roll into the world. In fact, I believe it was the most popular boy name of the day. I could look it up to confirm, but I’m relatively lazy. Also, they told me they were going to name me Lisa if I’d been a girl. Which was the most popular girl name the year I was born. So, my folks were not breaking any new ground in the baby namin’ department. That’s for certain.
But I’m reasonably happy with it. It feels like the first name should’ve had two syllables since the last name only has one. That would be my main complaint. Jeff Kay is very choppy. It also sounds like JFK, who was president when I was born. Weird? It was almost certainly a coincidence… My mom and dad would never go in for such cuteness. I’m sure it never crossed their minds. I should ask them about it. Indeed, here’s a 45 from the Kennedy years, some political novelty song. Check out the artist’s name. You know… ’cause it sounds like JFK.
So, except for the syllable complaint and the accidental John F. Kennedy connection, I’m cool with it. Jeff is a good solid name. Right? Unfortunately, I don’t think there are many current kids named Jeff. According to that chart, we had our day in the sun during 1962 and 1963, then it all went off a cliff. Oh well. We’ll rebound. Jeff will live to fight another day. There will be more baby Jeffs! Mark my words.
I never thought about having a different name or going by my middle name: Scott. But what about you? Have you considered changing your name, or using your middle name? I doubt that it would even work unless you moved to another city and started over. Once you’re known by a name, that shit is locked-in. You can’t expect people to update something like that. It’ll never happen. Am I wrong? Do you know anyone who has successfully made such a transition, without putting themselves into a completely different setting? Tell us about it, won’t you? And if you ever thought about it, what was your new name going to be?
I know someone, right now, who is attempting to bully the world into calling him Alex. But that’s not his name. He just doesn’t like the one he was given at birth and is trying to pull a fast one. I, for one, will not participate. And I don’t think I’m alone. You’re not Alex! We all know this.
What do you have on this subject? Are you happy with your name? Did you ever consider changing it, or demanding that everyone start using a variation of some sort? Please tell us about it. Also, share your tales of people who wanted everyone to start calling them some completely different name, or a nickname or whatever. Use the comments section.
And I posted a new podcast episode last night, right before midnight. Yeah, it came out at 11:57… but it was technically a Monday episode. Back on track, baby! Today, anyway. Here’s the summary:
In this one, I provide exciting updates on a couple of our earlier stories, share a breakdown of the small little things that are irritating me these days, and play a bizarre message left on the hotline. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for listening!
It’s available wherever you get podcasts, right here, or at the widget below.
And I’m calling it a day, my friends. I have work this coming weekend, which is already weighing heavily on my mood. Grrr… Then Nancy and the Translucents will be here for a few days, and then… The Raconteurs in Pittsburgh followed immediately by our Cincinnati trip. And I might see Squeeze/Marshall Crenshaw the day after we return from our Ohio adventure. So, it’s about to get crazy. It’s stressing me out a little if you want to know the truth. There will be no downtime for a long time. And I require the downtime. Oh well.
I’ll see you guys again soon.
Have a great day!
Now playing in the bunker
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My sister and I have similar-sounding first names, and during our teen years when friends would call whichever parent answered the phone would make the mumbling teenage caller repeat themselves a couple times to find out which kid was supposed to come to the phone. I think they had a bit of regret during those times.
I was born in the late 70s and I was later told that if I’d been a girl I would have been named Dawn which feels like a very late 70s name to me.
There was a guy in elementary school we all knew as David who showed up on the first day of school one year and said he wanted everyone to call him Joe. He said that was his first name and David was his middle name.
The reasoning was convoluted- something about he was named after his Dad, whose name was Joseph, and had just realized it because his family had called him “David” (his middle name) all his life. When he realized he had another “real” first name, he wanted to use it. It took some getting used to, but we all complied.
Similar but different: I knew a guy that went by his middle name his whole life. When he went to college they were calling roll in a class and he couldn’t figure out why “Michael” with-his-same-last-name wasn’t answering. After a few repeats from the instructor he realized it was him. It wasn’t out of character at all for this guy.
I have known a few people over the years who changed their first and last name.
A business colleague named Mark, who I’ve been doing business with for the past 20 years, recently announced that going forward he would be known as Lynda. Not Linda, but Lynda.
My guess is he needed the extra y-chromosome.
jtb
I tried to shorten my name during a year of junior high, but it didn’t take. The syllables were a bit off too… Gene just didn’t work. I hated the name Eugene. I mean, look how Eugenes are portrayed on television and in movies. I’m not THAT geeky!
But I grew to embrace it because Eugenes are a rare breed. In radio and my life, it became my branding. I had an ex-fiancee that didn’t want me using my name. For some crazy reason, she thought girls would flock to me since I was on the radio… which isn’t the case at all. I went with her wishes and used a pro wrestler name that I came up, Max DeMeaner. I was always coming up with wrestler names and I had a fictitious wrestling tag team The Pulpit of Pain – Minister Max DeMeaner & Reverend Chase Skirt. When we broke up, thank all the deities, I just went with my real name. Although, a radio colleague suggested using my first and middle names as my nom de radio… Eugene Byrl. But it was too late. The branding was in place.
My sister tried going by her middle name Denise, but it failed miserably. My cousin, who most of us still slip up and call him Shane, now uses his middle name. That name took and that’s how he’s known by everyone outside of his family. And for some reason, he completely changed his name legally for his ministry work. Shane isn’t even in there anymore. Seems a little bit odd for someone showing the people the way to truth and light, but hey… I see organized religion as a money-making racket anyways. So, more power to him.
I have an unusual name. Went to Catholic schools, and was tormented and made fun of by priests, nuns and school mates. Constantly reminded that there were no saints with my name and basically told I was going to hell and should start packing.
No one in my family spelled it the same way, not even my parents, some with one m, some with two, some as two words. It wasn’t until I needed my birth certificate for a trip to Canada that I finally found out how to spell it and that I have no middle name.
I checked on Ancestry and only found two of us with this spelling, me and the woman I was actually named after.
My late husband had the same first three letters in his name, and as my family used them as my nickname, my Mom called us He— and She— to know who she was taking about.
It’s really a simple name, easy to spell and pronounce, but I would have loved to be a Catherine or Elizabeth or even just Mary when I was growing up.
I’m Kerry in the real world, and you’d be surprised how many entities think I’m a dude as a result. Completely androgynous middle name as well, so no hints regarding gender to be had there either. Absolutely would NOT change my name.
Now thus husband on the other hand HAS done a mid-life name change, from the nickname he was called growing up to the official first name he was given at birth. It suits him much better.
My SIL also switched a few years ago from her shortened nickname to the long-form first name. So, it’s possible to do, but I think mostly it just has to make sense. Put on that grown-up name = makes sense; adopt a while NEW name = not so much.
Here come Dick, he’s wearing a skirt
Here comes Jane, you know she’s sporting a chain
Same hair, revolution
Same build, evolution
Tomorrow who’s gonna fuss
And they love each other so
Androgynous
I’m named after my dad and grandad, so I have a “III” suffix, and since they were both alive when I was born, they wanted to avoid the “Big X and Little X” affectation, AND my mom hated the name “Trey”, I have always gone by “Chip”, as in “Chip off the old block”. I HATED my real first name as a kid (George), but have grown to love it and even named my son after the three preceding generations and call him George since my grandad is no longer with us. It’s sometimes weird to be a middle aged man named Chip, but it fits me, I guess. The only issue I’ve ever had is when my wife absentmindedly booked a flight for me as Chip instead of as George and the TSA had a mild hissy fit and made me go change my ticket.
I was born in 1976 and Zachary was not a popular name then. My parents made it my middle name just in case everyone hated it as they figured it would be easier to transition to my first name, David, if necessary.
I’m the youngest of 8 and we all have the same initials (DMAS- dumbass). By the time my folks got to me, they just called it in.
I was always Debi until I went to college and everyone called me Deb, which became my preferred nickname. Professionally, I’m Debra. After 25 years away, I moved back to my hometown a few years ago and immediately fell back into Debi, which I don’t love, but I’m going with it.
My cousin married a dude (we’ll just call him Alfred) right after high school. We figured the marriage was doomed because of their age, and of course, 3 months later they divorced. Fast forward about 3 years and suddenly they’re engaged again. But this time, we’re all told to call the guy “Pete”. I think they got married again, and again divorced shortly after. I never saw him again, but sometimes wonder what he goes by today.
Similarly to Swami’s colleague, my ex-wife’s new husband changed his name from Tim to Kate. They sold the house to pay for the surgery.
I go by my middle name; that’s what my parents called me when I was a wee lad, so I thought it was my name. But there are endless parts of officialdom – from airlines to the health care system to banks – who insist, INSIST, on calling me by my first name.
Based on that my only real name gripe is that if you want to call your kid Dweezil, then make Dweezil his first name.
I never liked my name. John Steinbeck and Chuck Jones combined to make middle school just that much more difficult. I still find it somewhat displeasing and hope my kids choose to let my name die with me rather than perpetuate it on to my hypothetical grand children. I would have preferred a cool name like Nitro or Evel or maybe even Beverly.
Naming my boys was difficult. My last name starts with a long E sound (like Egypt). So when a traditionally masculine name is used in its diminutive form it tends to get rushed and sound likes it’s a juvenile nick name. Mike sounds like Mikey, John like Johnny, etc. It’s fine when you’re young but it can be a hinderance when you introduce yourself to the new EVP in the region and she hears your name as Timmy Gypt as opposed to Tim Egypt (which happened to me for real).
My boys were given names without a diminutive form as a result. It was a struggle to pick names that we could tolerate and agree upon.
A close friend of mine has gone by his middle name all his life. His name is John, but he goes by David. He does , however, use use J. David in professional correspondence and such.
My best friend of 35 plus years is named James but has always gone by Jack, at home and in public.
And finally, my uncle is named Dimitre, and we, his family and friends who share his ethnic heritage, call him Dimitre or Dee. Outside of the clan, he goes by Jim.
I have two.
My mom’s name is Vera Janice, and from her earliest memory of consciousness, she remembers hating Vera and insisting on being called Jan or Janice, but NEVER Vera. She actually went to the trouble of having it legally switched at some point during my teen years, so right around age 50.
I dated a girl years ago whose mom was one of the coolest women ever. (I missed her more than I missed the girl herself when we split up.) When her mom was pregnant with her younger sister, she decided that her name would be Pam. When her parents decided on something else, she was having none of it and called her Pam, and did so well into their teen years. Never called her anything but Pam. It caused quite a bit of confusion for people who didn’t yet know the deal.
And Jeff, having the same name as The Dude makes your name a little bit cooler just because of that alone.
Fuck it, Dude. Let’s go bowling.
We should probably agree that Dude is not the common diminutive for Jeff or even Jeffrey. In fact, “Jeff” doesn’t have a diminutive. Mr. Bridges’ Jeffrey Lebowski character earned the name Dude by being culturally cool and disconnected, and maybe by having an in-apartment bar that offers only White Russians. I don’t deny that Mr. Kay’s Jeff character could earn the name Dude through his intimate knowledge of Punk Rock music or his hundreds of hours of watching live alternative bands or by posting more than four updates a month (or some combination of these things), but his Dude elevation is not based on his given name.
Diminutives DO exist for many English language names, for example:
Johnny for John
Freddy for Fred
Chilly for Chill (“It’s chilly outside and it’s Chili inside. It’s a regular fuckin’ Chili-fest.”)
Chain diminutives exist for other names, for example:
James, Jim, Jimmy
Charles, Chuck, Charley
Daniel, Dan, Danny
But Jeff doesn’t evolve into Dude without specific cultural merit.
I have no problem with your awarding Jeff the name Dude based on the contents of the WVSR Archive, which contains over a decade of cool and terrific writing. And maybe a Caucasian or two.
John
First name Madeleine, middle name Ellen (and to get even more complicated – Confirmation name Elizabeth). Madeleine Ellen is 2 ellen’s in a row so not worth using my middle name. . Oh and that hand cramping long, long spelling of Madeleine is cringe worthy. I tell people “It’s the same spelling as Madeleine Albright” and I get this blank stare. SO much for intellectual colleagues. Every day I have to give out my email address (madeleinek@XYZ.com) and sometimes I’m on the phone for upwards of 7 minutes trying to get the person on the other end to get a match. I usually just say “Just give me YOUR email address and Ill write YOU”. The old man who started the company has no clue what my name is even though I’ve been here for 4 years. I’ve been called everything from Natalie to Maybeline to Matthew. Oh yeah, I love my name!
Thank you (or your parents) for using the correct (to me, i.e. French) spelling. I am not a fan of “Madeline.”
Fight the weave.
Our neighbors named their daughter Madeleine 25 years ago, and I STILL think it’s a pretty name. And if people aren’t familiar with the best Secretary of State since James Madison, you really don’t want to talk with them anyway: even if they’re a work colleague.
(And I agree with chill about the ineffectiveness of some basketball offenses, but I can’t quite relate it to French-based names.)
John
Madz, I’m sure you’ve tried everything to get people to remember your name and its spelling, but when our neighbors came home from the birthing, they told us to remember that Madeleine has three e’s, and that two of them surround the L. Since that day I’ve never had a problem with the spelling. Just a tip you’ve probably heard hundreds of times.
Good luck,
John
Wow, Ultra High Fidelity! Man oh man, I can just imagine how sweet that 45 must sound!
I am the youngest of 6. 3 days old still didn’t have a name. My dad said my mom better name before she left the hospital. So kind of last minute name. But I don’t meet many people with my name so it’s kind of cool when I do meet one. Also don’t have a middle name, neither does my next older sister. my mom was 31, 6 kids and worked full time 3rd shift nurse. She was tired. She’s still tired.
We did an analysis of ep. 31. We counted 134 “ya know”s in the show. That’s 0ne “ya know” every 13.4 seconds. Additionally there were 17 “I dunno”s.
I think the idea is to count the fucks and divide by the cocksuckers, although I’ll admit that dividing by a very low number is problematic.
jtb
The name site I’ve used since the early days of the web is Name Voyager. It’s been purchased and repurchased over the last 25 years I think, but this funky program developed in the ’90s is still the most convenient. It uses census data for older names, hospital/state reporting data for more recent names, and federal statistical data for current names. The graphical display was innovative 20 years ago, and is still pretty nice. Here’s the link:
http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=&sw=both&exact=false
Yeah, funky link, but it really works and I believe it to be pretty accurate.
John
Angry was not a common first name in 1961. I liked the middle name of White, as it exudes purity. The Guy family has carried on for years, and has many points in history that was important. If I could change it, I wish Mom would have named me Privileged. A better first name.
Angry, I love you! This was one of the funniest things I’ve read.
Privileged. Simply excellent.
Love ya too, madz!
Here is the best name info place I’ve found
http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager#prefix=&sw=both&exact=false
Los Babys (AKA Los Baby’s del Rock) are from Panabá, Yucatán, and have been together since 1958. Yeah, there have some personnel changes. Two of the four founding brothers have died, but the Babys are still playing wonderful Mexican interpretations of the heart of New World music. Here’s their live rendition of Jinetes en el Cielo. Rock on, brothers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POicJGqCEFI
John
Gracias, Juan. Paz.
Has anybody found a comparable blog/comment site? I’ll continue to enjoy the WVSR a few times a month, but both the blog posts and the chatter have slowed to the dribble of a man with serious prostate problems. I’m really not complaining. Jeff provided daily entertainment for many years, and even with daily updates there were sixty to eighty comments. Jeff has served his time, and is on to other things. I just haven’t been able to find a similar site: one that is not too socially correct, has well-written and edited blog entries, and has the kind of sparkling and profane conversation this place used to. The Straight Dope Message Board is pretty interesting, with bright, informed commenters, but doesn’t have a blog other than the weekly Straight Dope column. Anybody have any ideas?
Thanks,
John