Kiss my aura, Dora

Check out this post on Ari Herzog's blog, if you haven't already.

God, please save us from ridiculous given names!

I am a firm believer in names related to heritage, but that notion might be outdated.

Note that back in merry old England, people sometimes were called "Fitz" something, to denote their paternal relationship, and in Russia, names were very complicated not only from the patronymic 'middle' name standpoint but also from diminutive forms (try reading "Dr. Zhivago" or "Anna Karenina" and keeping track of all the forms of names).

It's a lot easier to track your ancestry when you know, for example, that for every patriarch named Henry St. John in Barbados, there would be a corresponding son (usually the eldest) with the same name (and the eldest daughter would be named after her mother).

Of course, this can be further complicated by the fact that a certain Henry St. John named his oldest son Henry, but he also named his other son (by his mistress) Henry. Makes sense, though, when you think about it.

Anyway ... I'm not sure all this silliness started with Frank Zappa and his kids, Moon Unit and Dweezil (not to mention the other 2, Ahmet and Diva), but it may have. I think I would much rather be called Moon Unit than Apple, which has no flair.

Dweezil, by the way, was only his nickname at first. His registered given name was Ian Donald Calvin Euclid Zappa. At age five, young Dweezil insisted (at least according to Wikipedia) that his name be changed legally to Dweezil, a name which relates to his mother's curled pinky toe.

Having said all that, I once imagined that if I had a daughter, I would name her "Clove." Why? Because I like the word.

Hey, my cousin and his wife named their first kid Dora and the second one Frita (I think). Dora Bea and Frita ... can't remember.

I know - "kiss my aura, Dora" relates to S-E-X! Dear cousin, forgive me for purloining little Dora's name for the title of this post. Dora is a fine name that always reminds me of "David Copperfield."

My second choice for the name of a daughter was Emily, directly because of said book.