A carnation by any other name

Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc.

Not nutty about it: Darryl.

First: If I hear one more time that dumb line from the Bob Newhart Show about “My other brother Darryl,” I think I’ll look for a rock to throw. Not only because I’ve been hearing it for 30 years, but because people who say it think they’re being terribly clever and funny. Most get it wrong anyway (“I’m Larry, this is my brother Darryl, and this is my other brother, Darryl”). But because of Southern politeness, I still manage a cracked laugh. Ha ha, good one, never heard that before.

Second: There are so many ways to spell it, I gave up a long time ago and just go with whatever people put: Darryl, Darrel, Darrell, Daryl. In snail mail days, I used to cut out from envelopes the really creative ones and glued them to a hall of fame: Darlyl, Derrel, Dary.

Third: My mom made no bones about the fact that she wished I had been a girl. “Honey,” she used to say wistfully. “If you had been a girl, I was going to name you Deirdre.” Great. So I got the closest name she could find for being the consolation prize.

Last: Darryl means basically beloved. Not bad, I guess, but to me, it always evoked the image of some wimpy, bespectacled kid who needed lots of nurturing. My dad was Norwegian. Why couldn’t they have given me a cool name that brought to mind some tough viking dude: Erik, Gunnar, Thor.

I guess because kid #2 was a bouquet of carnations instead of roses… but he was still loved.