Name your kid “Guy.”
If I ever have a son, I kind of want to name him “Guy.”
I’ve always been drawn to that name. Guy Smiley, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Guy Fawkes, The Cable Guy, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Dates. When I took French in high school, my name was “Guy” (pronounced like “Ghee”). It has such a generic everyman meaning, but as a name, it’s not that common.
Whenever I have an idea in its very early stages that requires a figurehead to move around as my imaginary world swarms around him or her, I always just name the person “Guy.”
“Guy does this,” “Guy does that.” I think other writers probably start this way too. In Tyson Schritter’s idea below, for instance, his character is “Some guy.”
It definitely makes sense to name a baby “Guy.” Just like a character in a new idea, a baby is just a semi-anonymous concept, not without context or expectations, but certainly underdeveloped.
The problem with names is that they don’t tend change over time, so even as this baby turned into someone with a personality, he’d be stuck with generic “Guy.”
Would it be fair to name a child something that would be most appropriate for his first couple years of life? Do adults named “Guy” actually like their name, or is it more for the amusement of the parents?
On the other hand, since you can’t guess what your baby’s personality will be as an adult (though if your baby isn’t crying as it’s being born, you could safely predict “murderer of some sort”), it’s almost more unfair to name a baby something that indicates any sort of value-system or temperment.
“Darwin,” “Edison,” “Rainbow” or “Eclipse” are usually mistakes, for instance. Though “Darwin” does work for the one person I know what that name. I guess that’s why most people give their kids names with no obvious meaning. Like “Jessica.”
I like “Guy,” but if my wife turns out to be more of a literary type than a scripty type, I would definitely compromise and settle for the more novelistic “Everyman.”
I looked “Everyman Southan” up on Google. No hits. Could my son be the first?
5 years ago