The Name of the Day...

...belongs to Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., the American commander in charge of military operations in the Asia-Pacific region.

"Harry" is not his nickname. According to Wikipedia his full name is "Harry Binkley Harris, Jr."

(I suppose I should give this guy a pass since he's a "Junior." I should really be going after his grandparents. But, still, his own parents didn't have to give him the first name "Harry.")

Think about it: if you had a last name like "Harris," would you give your son the first name "Harry?" The kids in the playground will end up calling him "Harry Harris" anyway. Were his parents just trying to save them the trouble of coming up with that nickname in the first place?

"Harry" Harris is kind of like naming your son "Johnny" Johnson, or "Willie" Williams. Could there possibly be anything so unimaginative?

I don't know if Adm. Harris has any siblings. If so, maybe they have more appropriate names, such as "Joe," or "John," or even "Jedediah."

But picture a delivery room with two proud parents beaming over their newborn son.

"He's perfect! What should we call him?"

"How about 'Joe?' "

"Joe Harris. No, I don't like the sound of that."

"Well, how about 'John?' "

"Nope; don't like that one either."

"Ah, screw it -- let's just call him 'Harry.' "

"Okay."