Um, Jessica, there was a certain tongue-in-cheekness implied there, though as a matter of personal taste I dislike androgynous names or seeing traditionally male names appropriated for girls.

Dylan, I think I hate myself too much to be an elitist. And, obviously, was speaking of my monkey brain, not the thoughtful part. Doesn't mean it's right, and my personal history with organized religion is one with a lot of estrangement in it...it's probably affected my viewsETA: Maybe I should spend more time with religious people, if I can restrain myself from getting all Margaret Mead about it. You know, like "Can you say that again so I can get it in my notebook?"

Their first is Alexandra, nicknamed Alex, and they kind of like androgynous names, but have taken Dylan and Ryan off the list because we'd kill them for using the former on a girl

If they name their daughter Dylan, not only am I never mowing the yard again, I'm reseeding with DANDELION SEED.

Yowtch. The Pale Hose are crushing the Bosox.

With all due respect to Boston-area Buffistas: HA!!

(Sorry--my dad was scouted by the White Sox when he was still in high school so we have a teeny bit of affinity for them). I need to give him a call about the game since I'm sure he was watching.

WRT the other AL game, Damn Yankees. (3-0 NYY middle of the first.)

Dylan, I think I hate myself too much to be an elitist. And, obviously, was speaking of my monkey brain, not the thoughtful part. Doesn't mean it's right, and my personal history with organized religion is one with a lot of estrangement in it...it's probably affected my views

I was probably being a little too harsh back there, but to me I see the same sort of estrangement and elitism in these sorts of religious groups as I saw in the cliques in high school. I don't think the answer to exclusion is elitism. The answer is inclusion.

The interesting thing about Jesus is how, time and again, the exclusionary and the cliqueish get on his back for eating with the wrong people, doing the wrong things on the wrong days, touching people who shouldn't be touched. And every time, he tells them to stop being such exclusionary assholes, because the Son of God is RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM and he's telling them that if they'd stop with the stupid rules and the politics and the meetings and the personal assurances that they were first in line for Heaven they'd realize that they are the same broken people they're sitting around despising, and for Christ's sake love one another damnit.

And, you know, it's IN THE BIBLE and still you struggle to see church members getting it right.

Maybe I should spend more time with religious people, if I can restrain myself from getting all Margaret Mead about it. You know, like "Can you say that again so I can get it in my notebook?"

Never go to Tulsa. You'd be at Office Depot every day loading up on notebooks to replace the ones you'd filled the day before. I'm surprised there aren't a bunch of sociological and anthropological studies running there now. Or maybe they just camoflauged the blinds really well.

If they name their daughter Dylan, not only am I never mowing the yard again, I'm reseeding with DANDELION SEED.

For all you know, that's the most-cherished baby name of at least six Buffistas.

If any of my friends had dared breathe a word about my babies' names, they'd have gotten their heads handed to them.

A woman my husband works with refused to tell anyone her name choices until after the children were named and presented to the public. She didn't like even the suggestion of someone not liking her choice--or else she was worried about people using the names before her.

If any of my friends had dared breathe a word about my babies' names, they'd have gotten their heads handed to them.

Agreed, but what if one of your friends was going to name her son Betsy?

edited for context

Maybe it's the fact that I sometimes hang out on naming boards, but my rule has always been that it's fine to critique a hypothetical name. Frankly, when I was in the process of naming Annabel, I was glad to hear when names had associations for people that I never would've thought of, either because I was too tied to my own associations or had just missed some corner of pop culture that most of the public would know about. Sometimes I ignored it--there was one person that seemed to think Annabel=Clarabelle=Moooo!--but it's all taste and opinion. And frankly, I am baffled why any halfway Celtic boy name gets turned into a girl name. Why do people who'd never name a girl John or Timothy name them Dylan or Ryan or Aidan? I'm not saying that as criticism; I just honestly don't get it.