A life in names

My non-invisible friend Lila (if you've met people in real life it doesn't matter if you mostly see them online, they are no longer invisible) posted about being charmed by the names in "Sammy The Seal," the 1959 classic by New Yorker cartoonist Syd Hoff, which she was reading with her toddler daughter:

"Is it you, Joey? 

Is it you, Helen? 

Is it you, Dorothy, Robert, Fred, Joan, or Agnes?" 

I can't say I remember running into any little Agneses in my cohort, nor any Helens, and certainly no Dorothys. That whole list dates from Hoff's childhood--  mine would be all Scotts and Lisas. I certainly remember Sammy, though, and his even more famous cousin(?) Danny The Dinosaur. 

I also remember what all this is reminding me of, this delightful post by Laura Wattenberg, name nerd of all name nerds.

Tammis? I love it, but, really, Tammis? Now that I don't remember ever seeing before, but I never saw that Scarry book either (a childhood lacking in Christmas books, I suppose). I'd remember Tammis. I did run into a little Tamsin in the park not long ago, and thought, simultaneously, "Love love love!"  and, "Oh, honestly."  

The comments to this entry are closed.