FanPost

What's in a name?

Here's a bit of fluff I came up with based on about 30 minutes of intense "research". My sources were http://en.wikipedia.org/http://www.babyhold.com/ and http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/

Ever wonder about the meanings of the Blazer players' names? Me neither. However, the following may entertain some of you. Rankings are for American boy's names.

  • Greg (50th most popular boy's name in 1988) = "Watcher". How about that staring off into space?
  • Brandon = "Prince" or  "Brave" (15th in 1984) Any questions?
  • LaMarcus (not in the top 1000 in 1985) is one of two Blazers with names that could be said to derive from Mars, the Roman war god. Martell (812th in 1986) is the other.  May they live up to their names!
  • Travis (42nd in 1984) = "Toll collector". Maybe as in "It's gonna cost you to drive this lane, buddy!"
  • Steve (201st in 1980) = "Crown". Blake has already won an NCAA championship and is now bent on winning it all in the NBA.
  • Joel (71st in 1979) = "The Lord is God". If Joel says so, I ain't gonna argue.
  • Rudy (359th in 1985) = "Famous wolf". Hide the womenfolk!
  • Channing (not in top 1000 in 1983) = "Knowing". How fitting is this for a guy who just radiates intelligence?
  • Sergio (196th in 1986) = "Servant". That's a great name for a pass-first point guard!
  • Nicolas (218th in 1988) = "Victory of the people". Just what you'd expect in a great team player.
  • Jerryd (b. 1988). Hmmm. Could he be Jerry with added "d"? Jerry = "Spear ruler". Right.
  • Ikechukwu, aka Ike (b. 1983). For some reason, Ike wasn't in my main source, so I cheated and assumed "Dwight", and that means "Mountain of Zeus".
  • Raef (b. 1976) = "Forgiving". That's a relief.
  • Shavlik (b. 1983) remains an enigma.
  • Nate (187th in 196) = "God has given". Hmmm.
  • Kevin (17th in 1967) = "Beautiful at birth"!
  • Paul (17th in 1953) = "Small" or "Humble"!

By the way, somebody has played a juvenile prank on Joel's Wikipedia page. Check out the first sentence. I have yet to edit a single word on that site, but maybe one of you readers might want to fix it?