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In 1991, I was preparing to publish my first book, about a year I spent teaching junior high school in Japan. Stephen Birmingham, the author of “Our Crowd” and an acquaintance of my parents, offered to give me a blurb but recommended one change: that I drop the middle initial from my name on the cover. As a 26-year-old, baby-faced writer, I was eager to appear older and more sophisticated, so I ignored him. I’ve regretted it ever since. I thought of that incident this spring when the actress Ann B. Davis from “The Brady Bunch” died at 88. Her...

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The Chicago Blackhawks declined to comment about the Washington Redskins’ loss of trademark protection Wednesday, but an expert said there’s little reason to believe the hockey team’s name and Indian head logo could face similar jeopardy. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office found in a 2-to-1 decision that trademarks covering the Redskins’ name and associated symbols disparaged American Indians, and thus must be canceled under federal law. The team vowed to appeal, noting it had won a similar legal case a decade ago.

Bennett MuraskinJan. 8, 2014 Richard Andree's 1881 map of the Jews of Central Europe. Ashkenazic Jews were among the last Europeans to take family names. Some German-speaking Jews took last names as early as the 17th century, but the overwhelming majority of Jews lived in Eastern Europe and did not take last names until compelled to do so. The process began in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1787 and ended in Czarist Russia in 1844. In attempting to build modern nation-states, the authorities insisted that Jews take last names so that they could be taxed, drafted, and educated (in that order...

(CNN) -- Michael and Jacob, your reign has ended. In 2013, for the first time since 1960, a new name unseated Michael or Jacob as the most popular for newborn boys. That's according to the Social Security Administration, which releases the list of most popular baby names each year. American parents want unique baby names The new king's name? Noah.

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has banned 50 names they argue contradict the culture or religion of the Kingdom, according to reports by local media. Parents in the Kingdom will reportedly no longer be able to call their children by names such as Linda, Alice, Elaine or Binyamin (Arabic for Benjamin) after the civil affairs department at the ministry issued a list of the prohibited names. Binyamin is believed in Islam to be the son of Prophet Jacob, but is also the name of the current Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. …

Top IRS officials in Washington, D.C. planned and oversaw the agency’s improper targeting of conservative groups, according to the 72-year old retiring IRS lawyer who will testify Thursday before the House Oversight Committee. Retiring IRS lawyer Carter C. Hull implicated the IRS Chief Counsel’s office, headed by Obama appointee William J. Wilkins, and Lois Lerner, the embattled head of the IRS’ exempt organizations office, in the IRS targeting scandal and made clear that the targeting started in Washington, according to leaked interviews that Hull granted to the Oversight Committee in advance of Thursday’s hearing. Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George...

* * * * The sounds of liberal and conservative names varied, too. For both boys and girls, liberals tended to pick more feminine-sounding choices, such as Liam, Ely and Leila names that include lots of L sounds and soft-A endings, including popular choices Ella and Sophia. Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to pick names with more masculine-sounding Ks, Bs, Ds and Ts, such as Kurt. A couple of famous national political families demonstrate that pattern, Oliver said: The liberal Obamas named their daughters Sasha and Malia, both names heavy on As and Ls, whereas the conservative Palin family...

News Print Article | Email Friend | Reprint Permissions Today we gave names to Gosnell’s abortion victims. Why was this important? by Fr. Frank Pavone Thu May 09, 2013 11:30 EST Comments () Tags: abortion, kermit gosnell This is the Memorial Basket where we placed the certificates with the names of the babies on our Altar in our chapel at Priests for Life. May 9, 2013 (PriestsforLife) - The trial of abortionist Kermit Gosnell is about much more than the man himself. In a painful way, it brings America face to face with abortion, which, as the defense argued, is...

In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the U.S. Navy had no formal procedure for naming ships. It wasn’t until 1819 that Congress passed an act stating “all of the ships, of the Navy of the United States, now building, or hereafter to be built, shall be named by the Secretary of the Navy.” The secretary has fulfilled this role ever since, even though the passage expressly assigning authority for designating ship names was omitted when the U.S. Code was revised in 1925. In addition to recommendations from Congress and the president, the secretary traditionally has been guided by...

A 15-year-old Icelandic girl has won the right to keep her first name, despite it being "unapproved" by the state. Why do some countries restrict baby names? Parents-to-be often find it hard enough to find a name they both like, let alone one the state might also be in favour of. Bjork Eidsdottir had no idea when, in naming her newborn girl Blaer 15 years ago, she was breaking the law. In the eyes of the authorities Blaer, which means "light breeze", was a male name and therefore not approved. It meant that for her entire childhood, Blaer was known...

Living and working the African American Catholic Community I have been subject to some time with names that are often unpronounceable. It is a controversial practice even in the Black community for parents to name their children all sorts of crazy, made-up names that are often intentionally misspelled.DeQuanna, Sharkeisha, LaDarrius, Shamyra, Marketta, Shontella, LaRochelle, Shandrika, Charmonique, Myosha, LaKeisha, DeQuan, Rhondella, Raviona, Rominthia, Tomika, LaVenia, Trishela, LaTasha, ABCDE, Tyeisha, Mootron, Knoshon, Keyshawn, Tarquisha, Q’J'Q’Sha, Laquintas, Jamarcus, JoNathans, et al.I trip over this especially at Baptisms when I am supposed to solemnly pronounce the name of the child. Even after the irritated...

A lot of weight rides on the name you choose for your kid. And every year when the Social Security office releases the data on the most popular baby names, parents get upset. As a Michele who faced the extreme popularity of my name way back when, I'm here to tell you that if your child's name is on this list, it's going to be just fine. In fact, take pride in knowing your baby name choice won't be ridiculed.

Some of the Indian Names for Elizabeth Warren.... Hiataxa Mooch-A-Hontas Occupy TeaPee Communist Red Hawk A Girl Named Sioux Taxes With Abandon Princess Lunarbat Dances with Commies Dances With Ward Churchill Leftist Buffalo Affordable MedicineMan Act spend your wompum Running Her Mouth Off Sitting Bull-Hockey

Right now in the most of the developed world, it could be argued, women are considered about as "equal" to men as they have ever been. And yet, countering any "We've come a long way, baby"-type sentiment you might cheer about (intelligence in a woman is now considered by men to be more important than being pleasant and a good housekeeper; France is doing away with the term "mademoiselle"), there are deep, abiding problems that we're still working through. Some, like birth control access, are matters of health and freedom, while others are more "semantic," though no less problematic.

The U.S. Navy announced Wednesday morning that it has named one of its new ships after Marine Sgt. Rafael Peralta, a San Diego native who died a hero in Iraq in 2004. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announced the move, saying a new guided-missile destroyer will be named the USS Rafael Peralta. A Pentagon statement said Mabus named that ship and two other new destroyers after Navy and Marine Corps heroes whose actions occurred during different conflicts but "were united in their uncommon valor." Peralta was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross after using his body to shield fellow Marines from an...

judge ruled Thursday that the state Government Accountability Board needs to take more aggressive action to vet recall signatures that are expected to be submitted in two weeks against Gov. Scott Walker and other Republican office holders. The ruling by Waukesha County Circuit Judge J. Mac Davis came in a case filed Dec. 15 by Walker's campaign committee and Stephan Thompson, executive director of the state Republican Party, asking Davis to order the accountability board to seek out and eliminate duplicate and fictitious signatures and illegible addresses in recall petitions. Davis, who refused to enter injunctions in the case, based...

The New Hampshire Supreme Court has ordered that the names of public-pension recipients be disclosed, ruling that the public has a right to know the amount of their retirement-benefit payments. The Union Leader had sought to have the names of the 500 highest-paid recipients publicly disclosed by New the Hampshire Retirement System in early 2010 when the state legislature was considering making changes to the state pension fund.

He was the loyal companion of the Dambusters hero whose extraordinary bravery captured the nation. Now ghost hunters believe the spectre of Nigger the dog, the Dambusters mascot, is still faithfully guarding his master's old quarters. Ghost enthusiasts are convinced that the ghosts of both Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his chocolate–coloured Labrador still haunt the remote Lincolnshire airfield from which the audacious raid was launched.

NYPD checking up on Muslims who change their namesBy ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO AP – 18 hrs ago NEW YORK (AP) — For generations, immigrants have shed their ancestral identities and taken new, Americanized names as they found their place in the melting pot. For Muslims in New York, that rite of assimilation is now seen by police as a possible red flag in the hunt for terrorists. The New York Police Department monitors everyone in the city who changes his or her name, according to interviews and internal police documents obtained by The Associated Press. For those whose...