Excessive Fanaticism

Naming a pet can be a difficult thing. I remember a friend of mine decided to name her pet dog, Icy, because she was 'cool'. Bear in mine that this friend was a young girl of about nine who was naming a virtual pet for her Nintendo DS NintenDogs game. Still, her logic was quite sound and I couldn't argue with the name. Along similar lines, but far more important is naming a child. When one has a child you have to remember that while we think it's cool or meaningful to have a name deeply rooted in something that appeals to us, the kid is the one who is going to have to live with the name for the rest of their life; or at least until they are old enough to change their name legally.

I bring this up because I recently read an article in which a family in Ohio named their son after the last names of two of the Ohio State coaches; Coaches Tressel and Hayes. Now don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with this logic either. But Tressel Hayes is a bit... well... 'off the beaten path'. Again there's nothing wrong with it but you hope that these coaches don't end up ruining the program at Ohio State or causing some other incident. I mean the kid may never know who Tressel and Hayes were but for those of us old enough to remember, we may end up taking it out on the kid who has no choice in the matter. I mean honestly think about it and tell me, when was the last time that anyone named their kid Adolph? There's probably nothing wrong with the name but it's association with one of the most hated men in history means that anyone naming their child that will undoubtedly be faced with a stigma whether it is deserved or not.

Naming a child can be a very tough decision and there are those out there who seek to make it easier by associating the name with something good that has happened prior to the child being born. Whether it is naming the child after the city where their parents met, after a distant relative or a favorite team, it's important to ensure that the kid isn't going to grow up resenting the name. In my case, I love "Star Wars" but I would hesitate to call my son Chewbacca or Yoda. They're cute names and probably would make good nicknames but I really can't see Yoda Tipnis being on a birth certificate. To me, that ranks up there with borderline insanity. There was a case a few years ago where a woman on the jury in the White Water Trial of Clintons came to the court dressed in the uniform of a Starfleet officer from "Star Trek: The Next Generation".

Her justification was that as part of her constitutional right of free speech, she was wearing the uniform of an entity of which she was a part of. She came to court every day wearing her full uniform and carrying her 'communications badge' and 'phaser'. Now fanatic or not, that's a bit too much. When people complained she complained back that it was her right to dress up that way. Now while I respect the ideals that Star Trek has established, I don't think the mainstream population has accepted it to that extent. At least not to the point where we can have jury members in a Federal trial dressed up like they're en route to a comic convention. In my youth I have been a member of the Jedi Order but that doesn't mean that in my adult life I show up for work wearing robes and carrying a pipe made up of old machine parts hanging from my belt. Everything has a proper time and place and fanaticism is no different. If you are that crazy about something then by all means name your child Anakin Vader Shatner Kirk or Scotty Spock Jones but when the kid comes home with a black eye or with pent up anger directed towards you for such an unusual name, don't act surprised.