If you hear a child's somewhat unusual name and you've heard it on a TV show or movie...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Still burning ....

Norm?
Cliff (Claven or Huxtable)?
Hannibal?
Bosley?
Moe, Larry, Curly?

I'm going to guess Fonzie.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just don't name a kid Forrest-people will be telling him to run, Forrest,run for the rest of his life. He won't be able to shop at a supermarket without some wise guy cashier saying something like "life is like a box of chocolates". And he better be really, really good at ping pong.

I think you're dating yourself!

[Anonymous]

I'm fascinated by this mystery. PP 6/30@12:08, who posted about her son's name, if it bugs you that I'm posting my efforts to figure this out, just say so and I will drop it. Also, I can totally understand that you might not want to post the actual name, so I am not expecting that. It's just the process of figuring it out that has captured me.

Clue #1: Name is "somewhat unusual" (as mentioned in thread title)
Clue #2: A boy's name
Clue #3: It's "my favorite character of my all-time favorite TV show." This seems to limit the list to major shows with significant male characters. I am assuming PP's favorite show of all time was not some obscure show, or that she did not convert a female character to a male name.
Clue #4: "I had no trouble telling people where I got it from." I'm not sure what this tells me. Maybe just that it's not a completely embarrassing TV show. Also, that you're probably a cool mom.

Below are a couple lists of "favorite all time TV shows" from the internet. I bolded some contenders, focusing on those I could actually imagine being used (i.e., cutting names like Rerun and Hoss). My current top picks are Kermit, Ross, Chandler, and Kramer. Back to work now ....

The Top 100 TV Characters of All-Time
100. Captain Kangaroo (Captain Kangaroo)
99. The Church Lady (Staurday Night Live)
98. Jimmy Hughes (Yes, Dear)
97. Stephen Hyde (That 70's Show)
96. Dick Louden (Newhart)
95. Odo (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
94. Colonel Klink (Hogan's Heroes)
93. Josh Lyman (The West Wing)
92. Hurley (Lost)
91. John Locke (Lost)
90. Mr. Bean (Mr. Bean)
89. Dick Solomon (Third Rock From the Sun)
88. Frank Burns (MASH)
87. Herb Tarlek (WKRP In Cincinnati)
86. Les Nessman (WKRP In Concinnati)
85. Mister Rogers (Mister Rogers' Neighborhood)
84. Sawyer (Lost)
83. Greg Warner (Yes, Dear)
82. Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
81. Hyacinth Bucket (Keeping Up Appearances)
80. Shirley Feeney (Laverne & Shirley)
79. Rerun (What's Happening!!)
78. Debra Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)
77. Richie Cunningham (Happy Days)
76. Michael Kelso (That 70's Show)
75. Latka (Taxi)
74. Louie Depalma (Taxi)
73. The Skipper (Gilligan's Island)
72. Frank Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)
71. Marie Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)
70. Sgt. Schultz (Hoagn's Heroes)
69. Jim Rockford (Rockford Files)
68. Dr. McCoy (Star Trek)
67. Robert Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)
66. Sophia Petrillo (The Golden Girls)
65. Radar O'Reilly (MASH)
64. Vinnie Barbarino (Welcome Back Kotter)
63. Alf (Alf)
62. Mork (Mork & Mindy)
61. Sam Malone (Cheers)
60. Ray Barone (Everybody Loves Raymond)
59. Alice (The Brady Bunch)
58. Laverne DeFazio (Laverne & Shirley)
57. Harry Stone (Night Court)
56. The Doctor (Doctor Who)
55. Mrs. Slocombe (Are You Being Served?)
54. Mr. Humphries (Are You Being Served?)
53. Quincy (Quincy M.E.)
52. Jed Clampett (The Beverly Hillbillies)
51. Jessica Fletcher (Murder, She Wrote)
50. President Jed Bartlet (The West Wing)
49. Max Klinger (MASH)
48. Dr. Johnny Fever (WKRP In Cincinnati)
47. Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld)
46. Al Bundy (Married With Children)
45. Andy Taylor (The Andy Griffith Show)
44. Peter Griffin (Family Guy)
43. Stewie Griffin (Family Guy)
42. Elaine Benes (Seinfeld)
41. Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Star Trek: The Next Generation)
40. Granny (The Beverly Hillbillies)
39. Thomas Magnum (Magnum, P.I.)
38. Murphy Brown (Murphy Brown)
37. Lou Grant (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Lou Grant)
36. Roseanne Conner (Roseanne)
35. Charles Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie)
34. Jack Tripper (Three's Company)
33. Barney Fife (The Andy Griffith Show)
32. Kramer (Sienfeld)
31. George Costanza (Seinfeld)
30. Laura Ingalls (Little House on the Prairie)
29. Big Bird (Sesame Street)
28. Alex Keaton (Family Ties)
27. Steve Urkel (Family Matters)
26. J.J. Evans (Good Times)
25. Maude Findlay (Maude)
24. Columbo (Columbo)
23. John-Boy Walton (The Waltons)
22. Arnold Jackson (Diff'rent Strokes)
21. Kermit the Frog (The Muppets, Sesame Street)
20. Jeannie (I Dream of Jeannie)
19. Bart Simpson (The Simpsons)
18. Samantha Stephens (Bewitched)
17. Spock (Star Trek)
16. Frasier Crane (Frasier, Cheers)
15. Mary Richards (The Mary Tyler Moore Show)
14. Cliff Huxtable (The Cosby Show)
13. Gilligan (Gilligan's Island)
12. Tim Taylor (Home Improvement)
11. Edith Bunker (All In The Family)
10. Fred Sanford (Sanford & Son)
9. J.R. Ewing (Dallas)
8. Ralph Kramden (The Honeymooners)
7. George Jefferson (The Jeffersons)
6. Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek)
5. Lucy Ricardo (I Love Lucy)
4. The Fonz (Happy Days)
3. Homer Simpson (The Simpsons)
2. Hawkeye Pierce (MASH)
1. Archie Bunker (All In The Family, Archie Bunker's Place)

Here are some honorable mentions: Niles Crane, Boss Hogg, Hot Lips, B.J. Honeycutt, the characters from Friends [Ross, Chandler], Ted Baxter, Gomer Pyle, Hogan('s Heroes), Mr. and Mrs. Roper, Peg Bundy, Xena, Thurston Howle III, Barney Miller, Webster and Grampa Walton.

A - F

1. The Abbott and Costello Show
2. ABC's Wide World of Sports
3. Alfred Hitchcock Presents
4. All in the Family
5. An American Family
6. American Idol
7. Arrested Development
8. Battlestar Galactica
9. The Beavis and Butt-Head Show
10. The Bob Newhart Show
11. Brideshead Revisited
12. Buffalo Bill
13. Buffy the Vampire Slayer
14. The Carol Burnett Show
15. The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite
16. A Charlie Brown Christmas
17. Cheers
18. The Cosby Show
19. The Daily Show
20. Dallas
21. The Day After
22. Deadwood
23. The Dick Van Dyke Show
24. Dragnet
25. The Ed Sullivan Show
26. The Ernie Kovacs Show
27. Felicity
28. Freaks and Geeks
29. The French Chef
30. Friends

G - M

1. General Hospital
2. The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
3. Gilmore Girls
4. Gunsmoke
5. Hill Street Blues
6. Homicide: Life on the Street
7. The Honeymooners
8. I, Claudius
9. I Love Lucy
10. King of the Hill
11. The Larry Sanders Show
12. Late Night with David Letterman (NBC)
13. Leave It to Beaver
14. Lost
15. Married... With Children
16. Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
17. The Mary Tyler Moore Show
18. M*A*S*H
19. The Monkees
20. Monty Python's Flying Circus
21. Moonlighting
22. MTV 1981-1992
23. My So-Called Life
24. Mystery Science Theater 3000

N - S

1. The Odd Couple
2. The Office [American]
3. The Office [British]
4. The Oprah Winfrey Show
5. Pee Wee's Playhouse
6. Playhouse 90
7. The Price Is Right
8. Prime Suspect
9. The Prisoner
10. The Real World
11. Rocky and His Friends
12. Roots
13. Roseanne
14. Sanford and Son
15. Saturday Night Live
16. Second City Television
17. See It Now
18. Seinfeld
19. Sesame Street
20. Sex and the City
21. The Shield
22. The Simpsons
23. The Singing Detective
24. Six Feet Under
25. 60 Minutes
26. Soap
27. The Sopranos
28. South Park
29. SpongeBob SquarePants
30. SportsCenter
31. Star Trek
32. St. Elsewhere
33. The Super Bowl (and the Ads)
34. Survivor

T - Z

1. Taxi
2. The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson
3. 24
4. The Twilight Zone
5. Twin Peaks
6. The West Wing
7. What's My Line?
8. WKRP in Cincinnati
9. The Wire
10. Wiseguy
11. The X-Files
12. Your Show of Shows

# Airwolf
# Knight Rider
# The A-Team
# The Dukes of Hazard
# Transformers
# Voltron
# Beauty and the Geek
# Ally McBeal
# Boston Legal
# Gilmore Girls
# Men In Trees
# Picket Fences
# Ugly Betty
# Cheers
# Scrubs
# Seinfeld
# South Park
# The Golden Girls
# House
# Rescue Me
# The O.C.
# The Practice
# The Shield
# The West Wing

[Anonymous]

ok, holy crap, what's with the lists?

[Anonymous]

NP here, and I am also curious!

[Anonymous]

PP again--I mean I am curious to know what the name was, not that I am curious as to why the lists.

[Anonymous]

My son's name is Brady and people always say "Tom Brady, Brady Quinn?" - but it's neither. It's my grand-mother's maiden name.

[Anonymous]

I named my daughter Sabine, and tell people when asked that I became fond of it while reading The Griffin and Sabine books. I LOVE the name Griffin for a boy, but people might think I was nuts if I named our next child that. (well, anyone who is acquainted with the books.)

[Anonymous]

"Curious" (understatement) list maker: you really need a hobby. I think we've certainly lost OP by now.

[Anonymous]

I hate when people use my last name as their child's first name. I mean really, who would want to name their child Schnickelfritz anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Declan is a Gaelic name and pretty common (in New England at least).

I suddenly know 4 Declans, all under age 4. I think it's a cute name, but will definitely be one of those "mid aughts" names decades from now (like Max, Sam and Jack circa 1999-2002, and Liam circa 2004).

Incidentally, I overheard someone (mis)pronounce Declan : "dah CLAN" recently -- thought that was unfortunate.

[Anonymous]

OP, when writers are naming their characters, they're doing so from the same time/place/popularity context as parents are when naming their children. Even if a character is in his 30s, he is a new person, created in the current era, with a current name to match. Sure, a TV character might inspire some parents name-wise, but the writer gave that name in the first place because it was already on the rise.

Perfect example: Olivia. When Law & Order: SVU first aired, Olivia was already beginning its ascent in the name ranks. It has continued to increase in popularity, and the TV character probably helped. But Olivia would have made a comeback with or without L&O. In this case, it was just the creator of the character naming his "baby".

Same thing with Sawyer, Addison, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, when writers are naming their characters, they're doing so from the same time/place/popularity context as parents are when naming their children. Even if a character is in his 30s, he is a new person, created in the current era, with a current name to match. Sure, a TV character might inspire some parents name-wise, but the writer gave that name in the first place because it was already on the rise.

Perfect example: Olivia. When Law & Order: SVU first aired, Olivia was already beginning its ascent in the name ranks. It has continued to increase in popularity, and the TV character probably helped. But Olivia would have made a comeback with or without L&O. In this case, it was just the creator of the character naming his "baby".

Same thing with Sawyer, Addison, etc.

I agree, but sometimes the name is rising in popularity and the TV character is a tipping point that makes it SKYROCKET. I'm thinking of Emma - Jennifer Aniston's baby on Friends.

This was a name that was gaining in popularity and then, with half of child-bearing age America watching the show, the name is out-of-control.

[Anonymous]

Agreed! It is a nasty name, to boot.

[Anonymous]

Emma is a "nasty" name? I simply don't know what to make of such a comment. I think perhaps someone started drinking a little early today. Go back to your classics, dear. If you're not seeing double.