What's in a Name?

Today I had a fictional character sighting, well, sort of.

I've taken this week off to prepare for the holidays. And, unlike my usual daily pursuits, I was in the drop-off line for Jaxon's preschool. Our preschool does something to make sure they are giving the correct kid to the correct person when you pick up your child each day. They print colored signs with your child's name on them to display on your dashboard when picking up your child. I suppose that many of the moms just leave these signs in their cars all of the time because I saw several today, including:

Charlotte York!

Now, I don't know about you, but this is who I think of when I see or hear that name:

That's right, the Park Avenue Pollyanna from HBO's long-running show Sex in the City.

I guess I'm just particular. I mean, I could care less what people name their kids usually. If you want a traditional name, lovely. If you lean toward the more popular or trendy names, fantastic. And however you want to spell it, well, that's up to you so long as it's not something like Krzyz masquerading as Bob.

But, I do draw the line at people who name their kids after celebrities or fictional characters. I just think that those people grow up to have a tough row to hoe. I mean, with a name like Donna, how many times do you think I've heard the song "Oh, Donna" sung to me in my life? (And that's just from having a name that is mentioned in a song title!) I can only imagine how these kids will have to go through life answering questions and shrugging off not-so-funny jokes about their names, and I feel bad for them.

I've always thought, for example, if you have the last name Jackson, that you should just automatically steer clear of Michael, Janet, Tito, LaToya, Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Rebbie, Randy, Reggie, Alan, Andrew, . . . Samuel L. when naming your children. Similarly, if your last name is Bradshaw, I've always assumed that both Carrie and Terry were out of the question as children's names. But, I digress; I am stepping off of the Tide and moving along. I guess not everyone shares that preference.

I hope the little girl from the car drop-off line today grows up to have the same wide-eyed wonder as the Charlotte York that we all know and love. (And I hope she gets some of Samantha's sass - she's going to need it to deal with the questions.)