What's in a name? (A top five list)
This city with a unique name has a City Hall full of people with even better names. I was reminded of this yesterday when I bumped into Shirr'l Griffin of the city clerk's office. Anyone with a punctuation mark in their first name should get a special mention.
There are hundreds of people who work at City Hall and I've only met a small group of them. But here is a very subjective list of the top five names who work in this city. Feel free to disagree and add your own.
There are hundreds of people who work at City Hall and I've only met a small group of them. But here is a very subjective list of the top five names who work in this city. Feel free to disagree and add your own.
5. Jon Gillespie -- I've written a number of stories throughout the years about traffic in the city and every time I quote this traffic engineer, I get an automatic urge to listen to Dizzy Gillespie. I've never asked Jon whether he's into bebop but if he's as cool as his name suggests, he is. Jazz just makes bad traffic better, don't you think?
4. Shirr'l Griffin -- I made the mistake the first time I met this amicable deputy city clerk of calling her "Sheryl." Her name is nowhere near that bland. Shirr'l is pronounced Sher-rel; "sher" as in usher and "rel" as in relative. This name is even better written. Who needs a vowel when you can have an apostrophe?
3. Ravenel Wimberly -- Why this planning commissioner goes by Ray is beyond me. If this was my name, I'd make everyone call me Ravenel. Heck, I'd make everyone call me Ravenel Wimberly every single time they want my attention.
2. Tabe van der Zwaag -- Although I've spoken to Tabe, I've never quoted him, which is a relief. How do I write his surname in second reference? van der Zwagg? Van der Zwagg? Do I dare to just use Zwaag? I'm not one to change my name if I marry but if I ever had a chance to have both a Z and a W in my last name, I'd drop Leung in a heartbeat.
1. Salvatore Spagnolo -- Who is this, you ask. Why it's Councilman Sam Spagnolo. The mystery of the councilman's real name is one of the reasons why he gets top billing. I ask the question I posed to Ravenel Wimberly. Why wouldn't you use Salvatore? It's got stature and flavor.
"Sam was something that just stuck ... all through school and the military," Spagnolo said.
I have one pet peeve, however. Many people mess it up and call the councilman "Spagnola," thus making him sound more feminine than he actually is.
All in all, a great name. Salvatore Spagnolo. Let me guess, you're Italian?
This is an interesting topic. Whether a name is thought of as cool or odd depends on one’s social exposure, I think. Like you said, it is “subjective” to one’s own experience. Case in point: to people who don’t have much contacts with Asians or Asian culture, your name may be on someone’s top-five list. You must have heard of your name being mangled in one as well as two syllables (“Le-ung”).
Ask Canan Taşcı and see how many people she knows recognize that her name is Turkish in origin. If it is written as such, how are the cedilla and the dotless i vocalized in that language?
When you are in Hong Kong, see how many natives can pronounce “La Jolla” correctly.
“van der” are prepositions in Dutch, much like “of the”; similarly in Spanish, you can have San Sebastián del los Reyes, or Victoria de los Ángeles.
And if we really want some tongue-twisting names, try Thai.
We all know Rex Gutierrez!
Rex - popular name for a puppy
Gutierrez - A patronymic Spanish name meaning "son of Gutierre" Gutierre is a given name meaning "he who rules."