[Eugene Volokh, August 15, 2008 at 5:02pm] Trackbacks
Apropos Unusual Names, and the "Jewess" Thread:

Check out former Houston city councilman and Mayor pro tem Jew Don Boney, Jr.

My guess is that the "Jr." points to part of the reason for the name, though note that Sr. went by J. Don Boney.

Poncherello:
Mr. Boney won Name of the Year in 2003.

http://nameoftheyear.blogspot.com/
8.15.2008 6:19pm
EH (mail):
It's a revered family name, passed down from generation to generation.
8.15.2008 6:37pm
byomtov (mail):
It's a revered family name, passed down from generation to generation.

Then why is he just "Jr." rather than, say "Jew Don Boney IX?"

Wonder if they've had a minister in the family. He would be the Reverend Jew Don Boney.
8.15.2008 6:51pm
Dave Hardy (mail) (www):
You mean old JD?
8.15.2008 6:52pm
LM (mail):
I don't get it. What does "Jr." have to do with the name, apart from this guy not being the first to have it? Is there actually a sane explanation for this name?
8.15.2008 7:29pm
robert:
Jr. is obviously an abbreviation for "Jew-nyer."
8.15.2008 7:31pm
TMac (mail):
Don't know about Jew Don, but there are a great number of people with the first name Jew. There were over 200 who registered for the WWI draft. All were Oriental.
8.15.2008 7:39pm
LM (mail):
It's a great name, but I still don't get it (i.e., Mr. Boney -- not the Asians. They make sense).

Thanks to Poncherello for that link. I have to agree with the site proprietors that Spaceman Africa was a weak choice for 2008 Name of the Year. Fonda Dicks, Phyllis Mangina, Alpacino Beauchamp, Steeve Ho You Fat, Fabio Assalone and of course Destiny Frankenstein were all more deserving.
8.15.2008 8:13pm
neurodoc:
TMac, where, pray tell, do you come by a factoid like the number of those on WWI draft rolls with first name "Jew"?
8.15.2008 9:41pm
R. Gould-Saltman (mail):
Stop me if you all have heard this one, but I believe that if you check the roster for the DC office of Gibson, Dunn, you'll find Cantwell Faulkner Muckenfuss III. Yes, The Third!
I believe his son, CFM IV, is at Tufts....
8.15.2008 10:32pm
John Burgess (mail) (www):
When done according to the social rule, ordinal numbers after a name are supposed to designate the succession of a name among those now bearing that name and alive. When Senior (i.e. I) dies, Junior (II) becomes Senior, III becomes II, and so on.

It is a custom I've noticed particularly in the South, for people to run the numbers up to show the height of the family tree. If you run into John Doe IX, you can probably win the bar bet that he's from the South. If not, he's just pretentious as hell. You can win the bar bet that he represents the first generation to go to university.
8.16.2008 1:40am
Dave Hardy (mail) (www):
Once met Christopher Columbus XX, I believe it was. Yes, that Columbus. He had a business card with the English version on one side and the Spanish (Christoval Colon, I think) on the other.

My late ex had had a boyfriend named Dick Burns, and was sufficiently naive to wonder why I found the name humorous.

And my ex father in law, who spent time in Louisiana teaching at LSU, said the Public Health Service docs handling deliveries for rural folks with little knowledge of the world would suggest they name their kids after the famous doctor Positive Wasserman. I did a bit of Googling and came across a criminal proceeding against Positive Wasserman Jones, as I recall.
8.16.2008 7:50pm
byomtov (mail):
R. Gould-Saltman,

He goes by "Chuck."
8.16.2008 8:21pm
R. Gould-Saltman (mail):
byomtov:

Who does? III or IV?
8.16.2008 11:01pm
byomtov (mail):
III.

At least he did in college, where we were classmates. Smart guy.

I don't know IV.
8.17.2008 12:18pm
Rich Rostrom (mail):
There's a man who goes to my YMCA (I've seen his card laid out on the counter) named "Johnny Jew". I believe he's Chinese.
8.19.2008 4:19pm