Here in Middle America, things are quiet enough for me to spend time on subjects of very little importance. One example of this leisure is my obsession with the names being bestowed on children of the newest generation. Names like Aiden, Braden, Caden, Jaden. My wife and I are Western traditionalists. Our son's name is that of my father and brother. The name can be found in the Bible, any historical textbook or the lineup card of almost any baseball game from the 1900s to the present. So when we meet a kid named Grayson, Mason, Jackson, Jaxon, Weston, Hudson, Paxson, Matson, Cohen, Hunter, Gunner, Holden, Cooper, Carter, Colton, Case, Chase, Tyler, Trey, Trenton, Austin or Logan, we tend to be a little skeptical.
I'm just as obsessed with the girls' names. Sure there's the over-used Emma, Ella, Sophia, but with 9 billion people (many of whom are Caucasian and Western) on the planet, there are going to be some repeats. While my daughter's name is not traditional in the sense that it can be found in the Bible, it's a common enough name with its hey-day in the 1950s. So we cut the girls some more slack (for which girls everywhere are surely thankful and relieved). I just get a little confused sometimes because when I meet a Taylor, Teegan, Aubrey, Madison, Addison, Riley, Brooklyn or Avery, I have to double clutch and confirm whether the kid's a dude or a chick.
So yeah, there's me being all judgy about modern kid's names. My discussion of this judginess doesn't reach beyond superficial curmudgeonliness. I don't think these kids and their surname-sounding first names are the end of the world (...as I in fact think Millennials are the end of the world). I just have to bitch about something, so it might as well be this.
Then we have a week like this past one. War in Ukraine shooting down planes with AIDS researchers on it and then no remorse shown. War in Gaza again. War in Iraq again. War in Syria. Carbon tax repealed in Australia. Refugees in deplorable conditions in Texas. More than ten citizens shot in Chicago on a single night. And I take a step back and think, maybe these kids deserve a shot.
After all, they can't do any worse than the Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Joshua, Jay, David, Stephen, Steven, Timothy, Adam, Alexander, Anthony, Angela, Andrea, Allison, Meghan, Michelle, Mary, Natalie, Katherine, Carolyn, Caroline, Vladimir, Benjamin, Nicholas, Thomas, Charles and the rest of us have done.
So if President Weston Jackson and Prime Minister Brooklyn Madison deliver us to peace (with the mandatory inclusion and active participation of MANY people with MANY non-Western names), then the egg will be gladly on my face.
I'm just as obsessed with the girls' names. Sure there's the over-used Emma, Ella, Sophia, but with 9 billion people (many of whom are Caucasian and Western) on the planet, there are going to be some repeats. While my daughter's name is not traditional in the sense that it can be found in the Bible, it's a common enough name with its hey-day in the 1950s. So we cut the girls some more slack (for which girls everywhere are surely thankful and relieved). I just get a little confused sometimes because when I meet a Taylor, Teegan, Aubrey, Madison, Addison, Riley, Brooklyn or Avery, I have to double clutch and confirm whether the kid's a dude or a chick.
So yeah, there's me being all judgy about modern kid's names. My discussion of this judginess doesn't reach beyond superficial curmudgeonliness. I don't think these kids and their surname-sounding first names are the end of the world (...as I in fact think Millennials are the end of the world). I just have to bitch about something, so it might as well be this.
Then we have a week like this past one. War in Ukraine shooting down planes with AIDS researchers on it and then no remorse shown. War in Gaza again. War in Iraq again. War in Syria. Carbon tax repealed in Australia. Refugees in deplorable conditions in Texas. More than ten citizens shot in Chicago on a single night. And I take a step back and think, maybe these kids deserve a shot.
After all, they can't do any worse than the Michael, Christopher, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, James, Joshua, Jay, David, Stephen, Steven, Timothy, Adam, Alexander, Anthony, Angela, Andrea, Allison, Meghan, Michelle, Mary, Natalie, Katherine, Carolyn, Caroline, Vladimir, Benjamin, Nicholas, Thomas, Charles and the rest of us have done.
So if President Weston Jackson and Prime Minister Brooklyn Madison deliver us to peace (with the mandatory inclusion and active participation of MANY people with MANY non-Western names), then the egg will be gladly on my face.