Monday, October 6, 2008

Some thoughts on naming new babies

Dr. Seuss wrote a poem about the McCaves—
A family who boasted some twenty-three Daves.
Well, that’s not so different from our good McCords,
The clan that has Davids by dozens and hordes.
And we think our ancestors, though they were nice,
Should really have followed that good Seuss advice:
He said, for example, “when those boys were born,
They should have called one of them Bodkin Van Horn,
And one of them Hoos-Foos, and one of them Snimm
And one of them Hot Shot, and one Sunny Jim.
And one of them Shadrack, and one of them Blinkey.
And one of them Stuffy and one of them Stinkey.”
He’s right. What a boon to our modern research,
If one of our Daves had been Lochinvar Lurch.
Another, perhaps, would have been more distinctive
If he had been christened Robertus Dolinctive.
Names like Davidicus, Otto, or Kunkel
Would now help distinguish a grandpa from uncle.
But parents and grandparents, it would appear,
Found that David McCord sounded nice to the ear;
And so grandsons and nephews (they number in dozens),
Grand uncles and grandpas and twice-removed cousins
Were all christened David, but we are assured
That one of them must be OUR David McCord.

1 comment:

Joanne said...

Cute poem. You are very talented with words. Good thing we didn't name Carson- David McCord.