Lay Lines by Carol Lay for December 20, 2021

I actually met a girl named “Imunqiue.” (I’m unique.) No lie.

Once worked with a lady named after a mouthwash…”Lavoris”…

At least Zamboni looks happy of his name.

This goes back forty years or so. Twin girls named Dacron and Polyester. Also twins Toyota Corolla and Mercedes Benz.

I named my child Clif.

This one’s quite close to reality.

My daughter is Rayleigh, after the scientist who discovered why the sky is blue.

these all make “Apple” or “Chastity” look semi normal.

Packard was a great car, better luxury car than Cadillac, Lincoln, or LaSalle.

I once knew some people who named their daughter “Kirin”, which is a brand of Japanese beer.

I just know that someday I will meet a Japanese parent who will proudly show me a photo of his/her son, “Schlitz”.

Like a lot of Boomers, I got my Dad’s name with Junior tacked on. My first sister got Mom’s name. But girls don’t have generational separators. I’ve always wondered why.

I remember years ago when I had a steady job, a co-worker was upset. She was being teased about “A Fish Called Wanda”, because her name was Wanda. I told her there are worse movie names than that. I asked her to look up “Naughty Marietta”.

She stopped crying.

“Unique” reminds me of this dialogue from I Love Lucy, when she was pregnant and couldn’t make up her mind about what to name the baby:

Lucy: I want names that are unique and euphonious.

Ricky: Okay, then: Unique if it’s a boy and Euphonious if it’s a girl.

Of course, products are often named after things, as in the name Kirin (=an Asian dragon, after which a Japanese beer and a local Chinese restaurant are named) mentioned above. The actor Charisma Carpenter was apparently named after a perfume, not an attribute.

Like, what’s sup with Like?