As the bearer of a triune of seemingly disparate names-Chani (demonstrably a Punjabi name for males and females, but technically acquired because my parents are into sci-fi), Jo (presumably a Southern moniker affixed to my first name, but actually named for my father, Joseph), and Hodonsky (you have to scroll down a bit, but if you do, you’ll discover that I’m not Polish!)-I am often fascinated by the names people choose. Car (or hard drive, iPod, etc.) names, pet names, superhero names: anything onomastically meaningful usually catches my eye (or ear, as it were).

So if you could name someone or something (appliances, pets, and people [sobriquets only, please... if you want to name a baby, there are a bazillion other websites out there to talk about it] are all appropriate in this forum) whatever you wanted, what would you choose? Would you try to find an aesthetically pleasing combination of your favorite phonemes? Are you so sick of people getting your own name wrong that you’d prefer to go the George Foreman route and name everything in your life the same thing? Would you be willing to eternally associate one of your favorite words with a pet or musical instrument, given the possibility that it wouldn’t work out? Are you one of those people that adds a bizarre pronunciation to a previously quotidian term to “make it your own”?