What's in a Name?

"Dad," my son, Vince, said to me the other day.  "You know, the Goliath Bird Eater Tarantula is not very well named because even thought it is really big, it seldom eats birds at all.  It mostly lives on insects."

"Oh," I said.  "I didn't know that."  Frankly, I hadn't even known there was a tarantula with such a name as the Goliath Bird Eater, but Vince is always sharing some new botanical or zoological information with me.

"You know, the Blue Footed Booby is well named, though," he continued.  "Because it really does have blue feet, although they are brightest on the adults."

"Have you ever seen a Blue Footed Booby?"  I asked him curiously.

"No, Dad," he said, as though I was a bit of a dim wit.  "The are marine birds that are native the tropical Pacific coast.  They aren't found in Indiana."

So much for that.

Vince is at the age where he thinks things should be named appropriately.  Of course, that could lead to some very long names.  Something like: "Very Large Tarantula that mostly eats insects, but very occasionally might eat a bird if it could happen to catch it."

When it comes to medicines, almost all of the names are made up and tell you nothing about the medicine.  Names like Prinvil or Norvasc are short, but maybe "Excellent Blood Pressure Pill," would make patients more likely to take them.  Or maybe, instead of Amaryl, we could have the "Works Real Good on Sugar," pill.

I don't suppose the FDA would allow a naming process like that and that's fine.  Medical professionals are perfectly capable of remembering names and doses of medications without their names being descriptive.  At the same time, I wonder what we would named if each one of us would be named if we would had a totally descriptive name.

In the Bible, people really did have descriptive names.  The woman Naomi had a name that meant "Pleasant."  After she returned from a sojourn in Moab during which time both her husband and two sons died, she requested that people call her Mara, which means bitter.

What would people call you if they used a description for your name?  I hope it would be something good, something that speaks of love and kindness rather than a name that speaks of anger, greed, or selfishness.

There is no doubt that to be "well named," (as Vince would say) is rather to be chosen than great riches.