A lot of thought, or at least you’d hope. After all of the commotion over celebrity baby naming over the last few years, you’d think the “civilians” among us would learn from those “on high” and have some good sense in chosing the monikers for their offspring.

Michael Malone over at the New York Times apparently feels the same way, having gone through the agonizing process of picking “Charlotte” from more than 60,000 on the lists and books out there to help him decide.

We went through a similar process when naming our two. We have a rather challenging Polish last name, so we wanted to keep the first name somewhat simple and easy to spell. Our criteria also included:

No names of SUVs: Sorry Sierra, Dakota, Tahoe, etc. You belong in a garage, not a crib.
No brand names: Apple, Armani, or Chanel. I agree with these folks - As much as I love Steve jobs, there will be no product placement in the nursery please.
Avoid names of slutty or women of angst as captured in song. We’re big Cake fans, but this killed Jolene and Daria from our list. This also kills Roxanne.
No stripper names: Really, with toys like these on the market, do we really need to strap her to the tracks with “Chastity” or “Destiny”?

So, now that I’ve probably ticked off at least half of the people who read this, tell me. What are/were your criteria for picking a name?

It seems that our nation’s retailers and I have come to a complete and utter impasse as to what “back to school” entails.

Different ideas. I see it as an opportunity to send our students off to school freshly dressed, pressed, and appropriately outfitted to learn. Retailers apparently see it as an opportunity to outfit our nation’s daughters for stripper school.

Where, pray tell, have all the sweet little plaid skirts gone? The Mary Janes? The pinafores?

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