I LOVE LUCY

Oh, I could write and write about the brilliance of the Lucy/Desi partnership and how Desilu paved the way and set the template for the television sitcom, even decades after they created I Love Lucy - but... We'll save that for another blog... (maybe)... No, this blog is about names... and why they seem to go in and out of style. For instance, my mom's name is Lucy (it's all coming together now, see?) and a friend recently named his new baby girl Lucy - but actually, the name Lucy is considered quite 'old fashioned' by today's baby-naming standards. Check out this site that will tell you what's "in" and what's "out" in baby-naming these last 100 odd years or so:
http://www.babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html

Names like Britney - Jessica - Hannah - Lexi... all seem to be on the rise, and Madeline and Sophie are making big come-backs. But what of the Alices, the Bettys, and the, ahem, Barbaras? [and I make the exception with Ms. Streisand 'cause she dropped one of the last As just to be different!] What happens to these names that we no longer connotate them with what's hip or current or in fashion? My hat is off to my friend David who researched the name Lucy and found that St. Lucy was a woman (and saint, mind you) who was worthy of being named after :)

Maybe we should start looking to the glamour of "old Hollywood" to revitalize some of these lovely names so that they too can make a comeback. Let's hear a rallying cry for names like... Joan (Crawford) or Greer (Garson) or Irene (Dunne) or Betty (Davis) or Vivien (Leigh) or Shirley (Temple) or Marilyn (Monroe) or Judy (Garland /Holiday) or maybe even some of the more quirky ones like Butterfly (McQueen).

Anyway... what's in a name? Here's an excerpt from American Splendor by Harvey Pekar - this pretty much says it all (and... because, well, I have no more to say on the subject):

My name is Harvey Pekar.

That's an unusual name, Harvey Pekar. 1960 was the year I got my first apartment and my first phone book. Now imagine my surprise when I looked up my name and saw that in addition to me, another Harvey Pekar was listed. Now I was listed as "Harvey L. Pekar." My middle name is Lawrence. He was listed as "Harvey Pekar." Therefore his was a pure listing. Then in the 70s, I noticed that a third Harvey Pekar was listed in the phone book. Now, this filled me with curiosity. How could there be three people with such an unusual name in the world, let alone in one city?

Then one day, a person I work with expressed her sympathy to me concerning what she thought was the death of my father and she pointed out an obituary notice in the newspaper for a man named Harvey Pekar. And one of his sons was named Harvey. These were the other Harvey Pekars. Then six months later Harvey Pekar Junior died. Although I'd met neither man, I was filled with sadness. What were they like? I thought. It seemed our lives had been linked in some... indefinable way. But the story does not end there, for two years later, another Harvey Pekar appeared in the phone book. Who are these people? Where do they come from? What do they do? What's in a name?

Who is Harvey Pekar?