PS, lest any Toms feel dissed, I got over my issues (which are totally related to how freakin' many there are in my family, and shit, I was forgetting all about my cousin Tom in that count--no, really, there's a fuck of a lot of Toms), and the Chosen Boy Name that doomed us to having a girl per the ultrasound tech was Gabriel Thomas.

OK, I won't tell on you. then.

I was gonna, too! And then Tom would have cried and cried and cried.

(The A was for "Adolph," but that got dropped right quick in the late 'thirties).

My German-immigrant neighbor when I was a kid had his name legally changed from Adolf Rudolph to Rudolph Adolf in the late '30s.

One of the PE teachers in middle school was named Adolph. I can't remember his last name, we only ever called him Coach Last Name, but somewhere I saw his name was Adolph.

I thiought it was a very unfortunate choice for him.

I was asleep and very happy and then my download finished and started and startled me awake. I hurt my thumb somehow in the waking up process. Since I was awake I watched part of the download and now I'm not sleepy.

And then Tom would have cried and cried and cried.

My Uncle Tommy was the best and the first Tom in my life. It gives all the subsequent Tom's an advantage with me.

I was supposed to have been named Velvet. No, really. Small favors, huh?

Neither of our kids ever complained about their names. If they had, I'd just have shared the info that they avoided being named Volodimyr by this much.

Hey Plei, do you have any interest in the Web Computing Specialist position that's posted on the UW site for the Preparedness Center? If you do, I know the person doing the hiring at the center, and I'd be more than happy to demand that he give you an interview.

Hey Plei, do you have any interest in the Web Computing Specialist position that's posted on the UW site for the Preparedness Center? If you do, I know the person doing the hiring at the center, and I'd be more than happy to demand that he give you an interview.

I'm technically still working for another three weeks with my current contract, but I'll check the UW site and see.

My Uncle Tommy was the best and the first Tom in my life

thinks about an "Uncle Tom" comment.

The other things I could have been named were Vanessa, Phoebe, Chloe, and Starr. My dad was the Vanessa/Starr proponent, while my mother liked Phoebe and Chloe. I failed her expectations for a daughter miserably anyway; if I'd been named Phoebe or Chloe it would've been that much worse.

Ironically, my father's second wife has a daughter my age named Starr (middle name, but called that in the family).

We really liked Dominic and Gabriel as names for Mallory, and now I can't remember why we didn't go with one of those. Christian was also high up on the list, but dropped because we aren't...and Robert was afraid it would get shortened to Chris. (He's a bit sensitive since people will spasmodically call him Bob or even Bert.)

But the world needs more Berts!

Christian was also high up on the list, but dropped because we aren't...and Robert was afraid it would get shortened to Chris.

My middle name (Jacqueline) is middle and not first because my mom had nickname issues.