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The story behind your SFGate screen name ...
I feel bad about all the inside jokes on this blog. We've been around for almost four years, and I'm guessing that newcomers must feel like we're speaking in code half the time. I feel especially bad when I'm among the people who don't get the inside joke. So I thought this might be a good time for people who comment here to explain the meaning behind their SFGate screen names.
theswca.com
This is Red Five. I'm going in ...
Some SFGate screen names, especially from commenters who frequent The Poop, are instantly obvious to me. I've seen several references to "Star Wars" over the years, which I always appreciate. Others are fairly self-explanatory. My wife, for example, goes by OaklandMom. No need to elaborate, unless we move to Alameda ...
But still more SFGate screen names are a complete mystery. This includes people who comment nearly every day, and whose names I know for real from e-mail exchanges. The posters who contribute mostly negative comments are equally intriguing. A few months ago, I actually looked up information about the Decembrist revolt, although I'm still not sure what it has to do with hating parents. Based on the contents of his/her comments, I've always figured that "pacificat" must be a foreign word -- maybe Portuguese? -- for "Hartlaub is a douchebag."
Please include the meaning of your SFGate.com screen name -- bonus points if you also explain your avatar -- in the comments. (I've done this below, although mine isn't very interesting.) This is not some kind of trap. Don't explain if you think it's going to reveal too much personal information to the masses. We're all entitled to an inside joke, even if it's just with ourselves ...
Read More 'The story behind your SFGate screen name ...' »| July 13 2010 at 10:32 AM
When childhood nicknames last a lifetime
My 5-year-old son has taken to calling his 2-year-old brother "Chico." He came up with this himself (from where, we have no idea -- he hasn't been watching this or this) and my wife and I have been embracing it. We think it's pretty adorable, and our youngest does kind of look like a Chico.
madmumblings.com
Chico, don't be discouraged ...
But there's also a part of me that proceeds with caution, the same way I would if my sons brought an un-spayed kitten into the house. This is cute now, but it could get out of control really fast. I don't want either one of my sons to get stuck with a lifelong nickname.
I always feel uncomfortable meeting an adult for the first time who carries a nickname that clearly came from their youth. I don't want to call a grown man "Scooter," even with his permission. Even when the name fits perfectly, and is kind of cool, it always feels strange to say it out loud. During a recent retreat in Utah with my wife's relatives, I was told to refer to a very burly, badass, motorcycle-riding relative as "Sofa." Awesome. But every time I did this, I still flinched a little, half expecting him to throw me through the nearest window.
Even worse: The awkward moment when someone with a dopey nickname decides years later to try going back to their birth name. One of my good friends growing up had another friend -- a really nice guy we called "Poppy" -- who I would see every couple of years. I remember running into him as an older teen and greeting him with an enthusiastic "Hey, Poppy!" He was kind, but serious. "You can call me Mike now." He had been lifting weights and I heard he was into martial arts. Mike it is ... Read More 'When childhood nicknames last a lifetime' »
| July 08 2010 at 10:32 AM
Baby name near-misses
I was looking through an old backpack during my recent basement renovation, and an index card fell out with a list of labor contraction times, and our short list of baby names -- the last time I used it was the birth of my first son. I've been thinking about it for a few weeks, and talked to my wife about our baby name choices last night.
maggiesfarm.anotherdotcom.com
What are you looking at -- you named your kids Scout and Jem.
"Did we really almost name our son Atticus?"
Atticus is definitely my No. 1 baby name near-miss. While we considered several names that I no longer like before settling on Theo and Milo, Atticus made it to the final three for our firstborn. I think about this fact the same way I think about the time I went rock climbing with a crazy friend in the early 1990s, and reached the top of a 20-foot face only to discover that three of the four pitons and camming devices he had set had fallen out. But for the grace of God ...
Nothing against Atticus. I don't dislike the name for a family that's considerably more badass than mine. Mike Tyson could name his son Atticus. Ron Perlman could have a son named Atticus as well. But even though my wife is a high school English teacher and I'm sort of a writer, I'm completely certain now that we couldn't have pulled it off. It would have seemed pretentious. (For one thing, I dropped out of law school ...) And as he grows up, he's way into mechanical things, and actually pretty weak at crafting solid arguments. He may prove me wrong, but I'm definitely thinking he's more of an engineer than an attorney.
Read More 'Baby name near-misses' »| May 04 2010 at 11:32 AM
Kids and annoying nicknames
As a younger man, I didn't understand why parents gave their children little pet names. At best, you're annoying everyone else within earshot with your baby voice and too-cute nicknames. At worst, that nickname follows your child into their adult years, leading to a life of crime, cluelessness and bad strip club behavior. (Assuming your bosses aren't as awesome as mine, that last link's not really safe for work.)
virtualredvine.com
He'll never live this one down.
Now that we have children ages 4 and 1, I have become part of the problem. And I'm glad we're not planning to have more children, because with each new kid this bad pet name habit seems to get worse.
Here is an abridged list of the pet names that my wife and I have been guilty of using for our children.
The 4-year-old: Monkey. Munks. Munkalicious. Sweet Pea. Sweetness. Squirmy. Squirmalot. Squirmasaurus.
The 1-year-old: Monkey #2. Munkalunk. Munkalunkadingdong. Supermunk. Pumpkin. Little Man. Cranky. Crankasaurus Rex. Crankasaurus Maximus. Chunk. Chunky. Chunkmaster H.
There are also more temporary nicknames, which usually coincide with the child's stage of development. For example, the little one started walking last month, so we've added Little Walker, Walky and Walker Texas Ranger to the nickname rotation. (I won't even tell you the nicknames we used during this stage and this stage.) Read More 'Kids and annoying nicknames' »
| June 15 2009 at 09:08 AM
Baby name envy
Whenever the latest Social Security Administration baby name statistics come out, I start thinking a lot about the names we gave our children. I wouldn't say I ever second-guess our kids' names -- I still like Theo and Milo. But I definitely get baby name envy.
biglittlebooks.com
The one that got away ...
It happened yesterday afternoon, when I took the kids to the park while my wife was enjoying a Mother's Day workout. I met this nice dad by the swings who also had two boys who were each about six months younger than mine. After a moment of awkwardness (I spent five minutes lecturing him about the As to Zs of parenting like some kind of expert, then found out he's a pediatrician -- yeah, he probably doesn't know anything about kids) we talked about baby names. His older boy is Felix.
Felix. We talk about baby names relentlessly on this blog. I had thought about having kids for a long time. I even read one of those baby name books from cover to cover before our second son was born. And the name Felix never entered my mind. If me or my wife had thrown the name out at the time, Felix would have immediately made our short list. It meets my three requirements for baby names: 1. It's not common, but doesn't sound made up; 2. No one will have trouble spelling it; and 3. It has great pop culture associations.
In the past, I've also had baby name envy for Calvin and Avery, which two other close friends had already claimed when we were thinking of names.
Did you think up the perfect name after you had your child? Have you ever had baby name envy?
| May 11 2009 at 07:08 AM
Baby names: Emily's reign of terror is finally over
The Social Security Administration released its list of most popular baby names this morning. I'm never sure why it takes our government more than 125 days to compile these statistics every year -- I was kind of hoping that this would be one of those things that Obama would fix. (More on him later.)
schoollibraryjournal.com
Dethroned by Emma, of all people.
But whatever, this is a day filled with good news. After holding the top position since 1995, Emily has fallen to No. 3 on the list of girls names behind Emma and Isabella.
This isn't a knock on people who named their kids Emily. (And apparently, that's about half of you.) I actually like the name a lot, which is why I want it to fade into relative obscurity again. Good names are kind of like excellent fishing holes and Thai food restaurants -- they face the potential of being ruined when everyone finds out. Sophia, still very popular at No. 7, is another quality name that I hate seeing overused. I'll only be happy when bad and/or boring names are dominating the Top 10.
The top boys names are Jacob, Michael, Ethan, Joshua and Daniel, in that order. I always like to check out where my sons' names are on the list, to make sure they're not trending too far downward. Theo is still hovering in the 300 range. Milo is becoming more popular each year, but still a long way from trendy at 449. If either one enters the Top 20 during their childhood, we'll definitely consider a name change.
One piece of bad news for Kardashian-haters. The name Khloe jumped nearly 500 spots to No. 196. Meanwhile, Barack didn't make the list, but the SSA reports that it jumped by more than 10,000 spots from 12,535 to 2,409, which is still more than 2,200 places behind George.
How did your name and/or your kids' names fare?
| May 08 2009 at 03:02 PM
Name the Gavin Newsom baby!
Gavin Newsom and his wife are having a baby! I won't exactly be organizing a shower for either one. Something about him sleeping with his friend's wife, and then his future wife saying "the woman is the culprit" makes me think they're not the type of people I'd like to play a game of Guess How Many Safety Pins with.
Chronicle/Katy Raddatz
Just think how big the kid's 529 account will be ...
But that doesn't mean we shouldn't use our expert parenting skills to help name their baby. I mean, it's kind of our civic duty. Since we don't know the gender, please leave your best pick for a boy and a girl in the comments.
Here are my choices:
Gordon Newsom: Seriously, name that kid after Gordon Getty, one of the world's richest men, and he'll probably never have to work a day in his life. (I wish my parents had thought of this ...)
Beth Spotswood Newsom: I was going to put Ruby Rippey Newsom here (nothing would say "hey, my bad" like naming the kid in honor of Gavin's former campaign manager's wife, who he had an affair with earlier this decade). But I'll be loyal to my Culture Blog colleague, whose devotion to Newsom has been unwavering.
Old Navy Newsom: Stay with me here. The city's is facing huge budget problems. If Gavin can fix them fast, it will look good for his gubernatorial run. So why not sell the naming rights for the baby? (We'll also accept AT&T; Newsom or Charles Schwab Newsom.)
Your selections below ...
| February 18 2009 at 07:03 PM
Meeting other kids with the same baby name
Before we had our first child, we thought a lot about baby names. We wanted a name that people would know how to spell, but didn't ever want our son to be in a classroom full of kids with the same name. I remember looking on the Social Security Administration web site with each potential winner we came up with, and eliminating suggestions that showed up in the Top 100 -- or ones that seemed to be rising with a bullet.
fullergoeseasy.blogspot.com
There was a time when the North American Theo was an endangered species ...
We thought we were safe, picking Theo (#301 most popular boy's name in 2005) for our older son and Milo (#548 in 2007) for our second baby. I've since been shocked how many Theos -- and even Milos -- that we've run into.
The weirdest incident happened at Studio Grow two weeks ago. As we were entering the lobby, I heard a mother with two boys almost exactly the same age as mine call the older one "Theo." Nothing particularly shocking there. After a pleasant conversation, I pointed to her baby in the car carrier, and said "OK, I know the coincidence is going to end here. What's your baby's name?"
"Milo"
I must have stood there in stunned silence for 30 seconds, and considered making up a different name for my own baby, because I was worried that she would think I was lying just to hit on her. (The new pre-school pickup line: pretend like your kids have the same name.) After we returned from the "Twilight Zone" and continued to compare notes, we discovered that some of our backup names -- Gus and Otis included -- were also the same. Read More 'Meeting other kids with the same baby name' »
| December 02 2008 at 08:08 AM
Babies naming babies
We're trying to get our almost 3-year-old son to adjust to the fact that he's going to have a sibling in about a month. One of our ways to get him involved is to ask him what he wants to name his new brother.
indygear.com
It's a family name ...
So far, he has come up with three names:
1. Baby Boy Hartlaub
2. Cup Hartlaub
3. On Demand Hartlaub
I know where he got the On Demand idea, although I'm not sure whether it's supposed to be one name, like Jean-Luc, or the baby's first name and middle name. I think of the three names he's invented, I like Baby Boy the least -- it makes the infant sound like someone abandoned him at a fire station. (And might lead to some teasing when he gets a little older.) Cup is probably my favorite over On Demand, but it's sort of a lesser of two evils thing.
I don't think small children wanting to give their younger siblings weird names is anything new.
Read More 'Babies naming babies' »| March 24 2008 at 09:07 AM
Breaking news ... celebrities give their kids regular names!
One of the responsibilities that comes with being a super big celebrity is naming your kids something bizarre, like Blanket or Apple or Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.
clevelandleader.com
She's Jglowing.
Jennifer Lopez seems even more batty than most celebrities, so when she had her twins with Marc Anthony last week, I was expecting two completely groundbreaking names. Brooklyn and Bronx seemed like something she might pick, although I wouldn't have ruled out even stranger choices, such as Ebert and Roeper or Samoa and Trefoil.
Her final choice: Max and Emme.
Max and Emme?!? That's something one of us might name our kids! According to the Social Security Administration web site, Max was in the top 150 names in 2006 -- with Maxwell and Maximilian also scoring high. (I suspect if you added them all together, Max would be in the Top 25.) And while Emme isn't a super-popular name, it's just one vowel away from "Emma," which was second only to Emily.
I don't know whether to be pleasantly surprised or totally disappointed. I think I'll go with disappointed. Below are my three all-time favorite celebrity baby names. Add you own choices to the comments.
Read More 'Breaking news ... celebrities give their kids regular names!' »| March 04 2008 at 04:16 PM
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