When Chris and I got together, we each brought certain things to the relationship. I introduced my Eastern boyfriend to my Midwestern family, college friends, and long-term wardrobe staple, shrink-to-fit 501 Levi’s, which in those days were available only west of the Mississippi and thus were quite exotic.
Chris contributed his Pennsylvania/New York/London family, his sense of humor and amazing cooking abilities, and about 15 friends, all of whom were named David. It was clearly a hugely popular baby name in 1957.
Bottom line, there are too many Daves in our life. Most of them go by their last names for obvious reasons.
But I’m also reminded of the classic Dr. Seuss work, which goes like this:
Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons, and she named them all Dave?
Well, she did. And that wasn’t a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one, and calls out “Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!” she doesn’t get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!
This makes things quite difficult at the McCaves’
As you can imagine, with so many Daves.
And often she wishes that, when they were born,
She had named one of them Bodkin Van Horn.
And one of them Hoos-Foos. And one of them Snimm.
And one of them Hot-Shot. And one Sunny Jim.
Another one Putt-Putt. Another one Moon Face.
Another one Marvin O’Gravel Balloon Face.
And one of them Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate… But she didn’t do it. And now it’s too late.
Oddly enough, beyond the Dave situation, we are also swamped with Wendys. Chris’s mom, my brother’s wife, a Very Important Client, and my friend Penny’s sister – every one of them a Wendy. Three out of four are Wendy R, so using the last name initial is of no use at all. Although I don’t consider Wendy an especially common name, it’s anything but rare in our daily conversation.
In a sign of changing generations, our kids know too many Jakes, Jacks, and Jonahs.
So, what names are recurring themes in your life?
