A former coworker just announced the birth of his first child, Baughn Issei Lastname (his wife is Japanese). No one here is sure about the gender of the child.

I just found out that they named him Attila. Am I the only one that thinks that's a terrible name? It's like naming him Adolph! (One possible reason - his dad is Hungarian, but they are planning on living most of their lives here.)

Wow. I think not QUITE as bad as Adolph, because most people probably don't have any idea what Attila the Hun DID, whether he was a good or bad guy or whatever. But he's still gonna hear "....like the Hun?" ALL HIS LIFE.

Yeah, I knew Attila was a bad guy, but when I checked him out on Wikipedia, he was listed as "Scourge of God." Nice - hopefully his friends won't use Wikipedia much.

I just asked CJ what he thinks of the name Attila and he said "death". I didn't explain why I was asking.

most people probably don't have any idea what Attila the Hun DID

Didn't Attila die while having sex?

Yeah, I know he did all sorts of Hun stuff, but that's the thing that sticks out in my memory....

There's very little evidence that the Huns of the waning days of the Roman Empire have any connection to the modern Hungarians, other than invaders from the East being generically called "Huns".

I don't know if they chose that name because is dad is Hungarian - it was just the only possibility I could see for naming him that name - like maybe Attila doesn't have such negative associations there or something.

Re Attila - at least he got laid (yeah ... NGA)

Catching up:

Suzi, congrats on your mother's new kidney! may it serve her well for many years to come.

Anne, I'm so sorry about your grandfather, and all the problems your mother's having.

Glad Joe got home to Aimee and Em.

Vortex and Sparky, you know, not-for-profits seem to work a lot like universities, only without some of the intellectual pretensions.

meara, don't think of it as leaving DC - think of it as spreading some joy to the other coast.

And it occurred to me ... wouldn't it be sad if someone had to miss the Folsom Street Fair because they were literally tied up?

Attila? Really? That's unfortunate.

So you know what's annoying? When the school's email and electronic grading access are completely down the morning that progress reports are due. I'm really glad I finished mine yesterday; otherwise, I would not be a happy camper right now.

So today is my "light" teaching day--I only teach three classes--and I should really be taking this time to find student samples from the first writing assignment to use for a writing lesson. I'm going to get right on that.

Now I'm thinking Attila Ghengis Hitler would be a bad name.