[Dixielandjazz] Christian names

[John Farrell]

Maurie Walker said :

"Another was Singleton Palmer's band.  And I seem to recall that trumpeter
 Dewey Jackson un-retired and re-retired several times in the late fifties."

What on earth inspires parents to give their children such peculiar names?
I'm having great difficulty imagining Mr. and Mrs. Palmer cooing over their
newborn while leafing through a book of baby names.  Mr. Palmer grunts,
throws the book on the fire, then turns to his adoring wife and says, "I
don't like any of 'em - let's call him Singleton". Same goes for names like
Kermit Ruffins, Thelonius Sphere Monk (oh my God, what have I said? It might
ignite more Barbone bent note diatribes), while Dewey calls Donald Duck's
nephew to mind.

For no reason that I can fathom my latest grandson has just been dubbed
Xavier, already the parents are arguing night and day as to whether it
should pronounced Zav Ear or Zav E A.  I keep out of it, secretly wishing
that they had called him Bert or Sid.

I have a friend who has a son named Paris. When I asked why, the reply was
"That is where he was conceived" - in that case maybe I should change my
name to Cowshed.

John Farrell
stridepiano at tesco.net
http://homepages.tesco.net/~stridepiano/midifiles.htm