What goes into a name?

Well, traditionally parents gave their children names based on something. Whether it be a family name, or the name means something in another language, children were named thoughtfully. Then came the invention of baby name books, and the whole world got screwed. Gone are the days when girls are named after their grandma Frances, Lenore or Irma, and boys are named after great grandpa Oscar, Roy and Mel; kids are now named after whatever shows up first in a baby book. I dare you to go up to a group of girls in their early twenties and not find at least one girl named Katie, Christen (Kristen, Kristin), Jenny, Ashley, or some derivative of these names.

Even nicknames have lost their personality. Nicknames used to have something to do with something a person did, an accomplishment they had in the past, or a character trait. Gone are the days where a person with curly hair is named “curly,” or a person with luck is called “lucky.” Nowadays the only nickname we can think of for a person is their last name. How original is that? “Hey Sauer, what’s up?” I know the last name Sauer is an identifying trait… but is it really a good nickname? I don’t think so. What if someone wants to call and ask for me when I’m at my parents’ house? Do they call and ask for “Sauer”? Well, I’ve got news for you genius, everyone living at the house is a Sauer! Why are we so unoriginal that we can’t even come up with a decent nickname for someone?

Even worse than the use of the last name for a nickname is the use of one’s initials. I believe that this started in the ‘hood’. Rather than try to spell out a person’s last name to call them by that, they just use initials. JR Rider started a bad trend; nicknaming people after their initials. Now we have KG, AI, C-Webb, SHAQ (which is actually an acronym for “Say, Have a Quarter?” (Don’t ask me, I just made it up)), TB, MJ, LL (Luc Longley), and many many more. Has our society reached a point of stupidity and unoriginality that this is the best we can come up with? Not on my watch. “Only YOU can prevent forest fires” – Smokey Bear.