What's in a name? Showtime, apparently

I want to make it clear as I write this that I'm not making light of the tragedies here. But I was talking about this yesterday in the newsroom and it happened again today.

Last week, I wrote a story about a couple guys arrested as suspects in the stabbing of an off-duty LAPD officer in San Pedro. One of those men was named Kareem Valdez. He is 21. Well, he was born right at the height of the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers. You have to figure that Kareem's mom was a fan of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, one of the greatest Lakers ever. "We'll call him Kareem!"

So, this morning, I read something about an Inglewood man arrested on suspicion of killing his 6-month-old daughter. It's a horrible case and I'm glad I'm not involved in covering it.

But his name drew my attention -- McAdoo House. House was born in 1983, right in the middle of Bob McAdoo's stint with the Lakers during the opening years of the same Showtime era. That's No. 11 down there.

Can't you just hear his mom and dad say, "Let's call him McAdoo!" And yeah, some might have called the Forum, "McAdoo House." McAdoo was great. I attended his first game as a Laker.

I wonder how many other people out there are named for the Lakers. Are there people named "Magic?"

I guess it would take quite an effort to know if there was an increase of Jameses and Byrons and Kurts in the 80s in LA. But is there a Rambis Rabinowitz? Is there a Cooper Nguyen?

Obviously the names that showed up in the stories I mentioned are alleged bad guys, but if there are lawyers and doctors and chefs and teachers named Kareem and Worthy, it'd be fun to know. Maybe I should just change my name to Worthy Altman.

And what's happening now? Do we have lots of babies named Kobe and Lamar and Farmar set to come? Odom seems like a cool first name -- at least until he gets traded.