Naming students...

Neal, one of the funnier teachers here at ECC, has told me that the greatest joy I will get from teaching here will be from naming the new students who come here each month. I've only had one so far, and I pussied out and named her Holly, but I'd imagine as my level of comfort grows I'll be a little more saucy with the monikers I dish out.

One of my favorite students--and definitely my favorite name-- is a 10 year-old boy named Merpit. When I first got the roll sheet, I had to ask several people why there was a student named Merpit in my class. It turns out that two teachers made a bet two years ago over who would be the first to name a student "Merpit", and ever since then, the kid stuck with the name has embraced its absurdity. The first day of class I asked him whether or not he'd like me to give him a more regular name, but he genuinely feels like a Merpit at this point, I guess. Smart kid, too.

Batman comes in a close second, but he doesn't have the charm of Merpit. I've been making a rough list of names that I'd like to see used by the end of my tenure here, and I'm writing this post primarily to ask for your suggestions, since I'm sure you have many of them. "Duder" and "Broseph", of course, are high on my list, but I probably don't need to tell you that.