Marquette University has called for a vote on the school's nickname. This has me thinking of Hofstra's nickname change. Our teams used to be called the Flying Dutchmen and Dutchwomen. The name may be problematic for those of us who aren't Dutch, but I would rather hark back to the school's tradition than go to the current nickname, The Pride. Lions are a motif for us, and the name is innocuous enough, but actually naming our teams the Pride...Doesn't that seem just a bit too needy?
I'm also reminded how much time I used to spend coming up with names for characters. The truth is names can't do the work for you. If you make characters interesting, their names will be less important.
Ian Fleming chose the name "James Bond" because it sounded dull. Robert B. Parker's original first name for Spenser was David, after his firstborn. Parker expunged the "Davids" from his manuscript when his wife suggested their second son, Daniel, might be jealous.
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