Bill Speer

What’s in a name?

Well, quite a lot actually. Let’s talk about baby names for a minute.

Are you curious what the most popular names given to babies are thus far this year?

The most popular girl names to date from first to third are Olivia, Emma and Amelia. The three most popular boy names, again in order, are Liam, Noah and Oliver.

Of course, we all know no two names can be spelled exactly the same anymore.

Take for instance Jackson or is it Jaxson or Jaqson. Inquiring minds want to know.

Or let’s go back to Ameilia – the third most popular female baby name thus far this year. While the most popular spelling is A-M-E-I-L-A, there are other options as well. Other spellings include Amelya, Amellia and Emelia.

Henry was the sixth most popular male name this year. Other spellings for this name include Henri or Hennry.

When I moved to Michigan early in my career the most useful gift I was given was a state pronunciation sheet from then Gov. James Blanchard. Trust me, it was a life saver early on for me as I tried to correctly pronounce places like Negwegon, Ossineke and Mich-e-ke-wis – all places within 15 miles of Alpena where I worked and certainly within the circulation area of the newspaper.

You could always tell a new resident to Northeast Michigan by how they pronounced Presque Isle County.

Locals pronounced it Presque EEElll, as in that ugly water creature. Outside the region, however, most would refer to it as Presque Aisle, as they do on Lake Erie close to the Pennsylvania/Ohio border.

And don’t even get me started on some of those Upper Peninsula city names, places like Ishpeming, Negaunee, L’Anse or Michigamme.

As rich as those names are in French and Native American origin, they aren’t my favorite city name of all-time.

That prestigious title rests with Wapakoneta, home to the incredible Armstrong Air and Space Museum and just down I-75 about an hour or so from where I now live.

I just love the name Wapakoneta as it rolls out of my mouth. Life takes me down I-75 rather often, and I inevitably smile every time I pass its exit.

Wapakoneta is a Shawnee word which roughly translates to “Place of White Bones.” It was the home of Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong – the first man to have walked on the moon.

The truth is that names can be fun – unless you are the unfortunate television host who years ago referred to Taylor Swift as Taylor Smith.

Sometimes after a mishap like that it’s just easier to roll with the punches, like President Grant did in the 1800s. After a congressman mistakenly listed him as Ulysses S. Grant on an application to West Point, the future president – Hiram Ulysses Grant – decided to go with the mistaken identity for the rest of his life.

So again I ask, what’s in a name? As evidence by all this, obviously more than meets the eye sometimes.