What's in a name?

There's a great book review in this week's New York Times of a book about bad baby names. Who would name their kid Cheese? How about Ghoul? I once knew a mother who thought Ampersand was a beautiful word, so she named her daughter Ampersand. I don't think I'd name my child after a punctuation mark no matter how much I liked the sound. After all, I hope that my kids like and respect me, and that my actions demonstrate that I feel the same way towards my progeny. In any event, the authors of this book claim that these unconventional names aren't necessarily bad news for the child. Some people are proud of their offbeat names. Maybe the world's becoming a more forgiving place.

Dilbert this week was about a new hire named Jesus. Read his adventures starting here and then the reactions it produced here in Scott Adams' blog. I was curious to note that the most religious of his correspondents seemed to be the ones who found it amusing.