PALIN'S Kid's Names: "Track Enfield" and "Van Palin"

Quite an interesting article today in my local paper about Palin's kids names. Now, let me be the first to say - that I have 2 kids.. a 3 year old and a 3 month old - and I am definitely part of the "Unique Name" generation - my kids both have names that no one else has, but are still easy to spell & pronounce.

HOWEVER - I do think that naming your kid "Track and Field" because you liked to run track, and giving Trig a middle name of Van because you think Van Palin is cool because you liked the band Van Halen in the 80's is just wierd. And this lady may be PRESIDENT.

Link to Article: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1219&u_sid=10427620

Cleveland Evans: Names reflect class, religion, geography
BY CLEVELAND EVANS

A few weeks ago I discussed the names of the presidential candidates. But with the vice presidential candidates, it's more revealing to look at what they named their kids.

Sarah Palin's sons are Track Enfield and Trig Paxson Van. Her daughters are Bristol, Willow and Piper. (The girls' middle names, if any, haven't been reported.)

Joe Biden's sons are Joseph Robinette III, called "Beau," and Robert Hunter, called "Hunter." His daughter with his late first wife, Neilia Hunter, was Naomi Christina, called "Amy." Neilia Hunter Biden and Naomi were killed in an automobile crash that injured his two sons. His daughter with his second wife, Jill Jacobs Biden, is named Ashley Blazer.

When Trig was born in April, his father told the Anchorage Daily News that "Trig" was after a great-uncle. It's also an Old Norse word meaning "true" or "trustworthy." Paxson is an Alaskan town noted for snowmobiling, and Van is from the name of the rock band Van Halen.

As young people in the '80s, Todd Palin has said, they thought Van Palin would be a really cool name.

Palin explained his other kids' names in a recent interview with People magazine:

"Sarah's parents were coaches and the whole family was involved in track and I was an athlete in high school, so with our firstborn, I was, like, 'Track!' Bristol is named after Bristol Bay. That's where I grew up, that's where we commercial fish. Willow is a community there in Alaska. And then Piper, you know, there's just not too many Pipers out there and it's a cool name."

Though unusual in themselves, the names the Palins chose for their kids fit in with their background: a recent blue collar past, living in a frontier state and attending evangelical Protestant churches. All those characteristics are associated with liking names with little history.

Part of the difference between the Palins and the Bidens is generational. The Palin kids were born between 1990 and 2008; Biden's between 1969 and 1981.

Parents everywhere have steadily moved toward giving kids more uncommon names the last 40 years. But geography and family history also play a part.

Biden grew up the son of a sales manager. He worked summer jobs to afford tuition at Archmere Academy, a Catholic prep school in Wilmington, Del.

His older children's names reflect that prep-school background.

Using traditional family first names Joseph, Robert and Naomi but calling them Beau, Hunter and Amy is a "preppy" custom.

Biden's daughter by his second wife, Ashley, has a name that was the up-and-comer of 1981, the year she was born. Nationally, Ashley was 34th in popularity that year, but it was the No. 1 girl's name by 1987 if you combined all the spellings.

Being a bit ahead of the curve on really popular new names fits in with Biden's upper middle-class status. Parents along the East Coast and Roman Catholic parents also tend to be more fond of traditional common names than parents farther west.

Biden is an Eastern upper middle-class Catholic guy born in 1942. Palin is a Western Evangelical woman with a lower middle-class background born in 1964.

Their tastes in baby names fit remarkably well with their backgrounds.

step up from Ima and Ura Pigg.

How about "Governors from Alaska" are such fucking geniuses.. that they can be VP's? :) That's better!

My son would be named Jerry Seinfeld George Costanza Cosmo Kramer Pepsi Forty-Niners Cat Morrissey and my daughter would be named Elaine Benes Carrie Miranda Charlotte Samantha Steak Pizza Hornsby Banana Pudding.

Catchy, no?

I mean, if you want them to fit on their Social Security Cards. ;)

Most commited christians would choose a Biblical name or the name of saint or martyr.

Or because Martin Luther King Jr. wasn't a committed Christian.

Stupid generalizations make this board look stupid.

Palin doesn't even show commitment to those values even though she mouths the words.

Oh. Wonder where I got the impression that you were engaging in overly broad, baseless generalization.

.

Wow. You have any support for that or is it just uninformed speculation. I deal with both repub and Democratic staffers on the Hill and know a few that I consider RW christians (former staffers for Jesse Helms, etc.). They give their kids the same kinds of names everyone else does -- Jessica, Brittney, Jason, Rick etc.

To defeat the repubs, it helps to actually know something about them.

His father, a minister, named him both after himself and after Martin Luther, of course (although, oddly, there is some ambiguity as to the actual legal name listed on the records for both King Sr and King Jr.--at one point there was email trying to make an issue out that -- it was stupid then just as discussions of names are stupid now).

Heck, maybe it is or isn't an accident that Palin has a biblical name. I don't know and don't care.

The point is that generalizing about why people give their children particular names and what it means about those people is pretty silly.

But moving on to Sarah Palin, her nomenclature system is from the opposite side of the culture war that she wages. Weird names are one of those damn hippies of the 1960's things

good work

I like yours too. It takes a brave person to name themselves for a deoderant.

Here's a handy little device for remembering: is is "oder" or "odor"? I assume that a lecturing type like you digs those little memory things.

Much appreciated.

"Cast the first stone", and all that.

pfooey

:)

His initials would be HMP - insert an "e" in there, and you have HEMP, and Palin smoked Pot in Alaska before it was illegal, so you know.. it sticks with their whole "we name our kids after our hobbies and cool things that we like in Alaska" theme. :eyes:

Just a minor quibble. http://norml.org/index.cfm?Group_ID=4522


I don't believe anything has changed since 2006.

Curious if you can buy it legally as well (less than an oz)?

Is Alaska the only state where you can have less that an oz legally? I didn't realize that. Huh.. what a wierd red state you live in up there. ;)

although sale of less than an ounce is only a misdemeanor. People get around this by growing their own. According to NORML, "Possession of less than 25 plants is protected under the Alaska Constitution’s right to privacy." Ravin v. State, 537 P.2d 494 (Alaska 1975). I'm not sure if there's a misdemanor level of plants growing. It doesn't become a felony until you have 25 or more. Ravin is the controlling law here regarding marijuana, so as you can see, we've had legal pot since 1975. I can guarantee you that there are many, many closets and basements in Alaska where a bit of horticulture is going on right at this very moment.


And, yes, we are a very unusual state, by red state standards. We still can obtain legal abortions, have no death penalty, and our Supreme Court has upheld benefits for same-sex partners of state employees. The writers of Alaska's state constitution (several of whom were Democrats, if I recall correctly) were pretty smart guys.

At least we know they'll never name a kid "Ramses" or "Trojan"...

I am out by Millard South. Nice to see I am not the only DUer in Omaha.

Mysteries SOLVED!

Ford F150. :evilgrin:

"Johnston, Flood"

:shrug:

Because it will be the second one.. ;)

:rofl:

than real issues

Not. I'm putting you on my ignore list. You have absolutely nothing to add in any thread
anyway. Bye bye.

how is "Track Enfield Palin" ANY different than "Montgomery Ward Snopes"?

No, they are redneck trash for many reasons in addition to the naming thing.

Now, go adjust your fucking halo; it may be a little crooked, Nanny.

I think this character may have just been referred to rather than being fleshed out... I'm really rusty on my Faulkner.

I definitely remember General Sartoris (Sarty) Snopes.

Got to love that family!

because that is who she is

Three of the more popular girls names in West Virginia in 2007. But they're redneck trash and the fact we want and need their votes shouldn't stop us from calling people redneck trash.

in this thread belong to the moose brood.

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

First of all... in my OP - I clearly stated that i've given both of my kids "Original, Unique or "odd" names" depending on who you ask.

Second - i'm supporting a guy named BARACK. Not exactly a common name in anyones circle.

The point of the post was there is a difference between unique names.. and naming your kid "Track and Field".

And, you always have the choice to read a post.. and move on.

and I'm a monthly donor!! I comment when I am so moved and this seems a particullarly jerky thread.

and I think the unusual name - Barack Obama - sounds strong and intelligent.

I HOPE the name Sarah Palin goes away in November, but I don't mock her choice of kid names.

They named their son Van Palin as a play on the band Van Halen.

Orangejello, etc..." myth and deploring African American unwed teenage mothers.

And now, irony of ironies...

:eyes:

Robert Hunter!

Really. It is pronounced Shi'-they"-ud.

I named my son Cash, after Johnny. I think Palin's kids names are interesting (Piper is a cool name) but hardly think it matters on the VP front.

But I will say: If it was a Dem, Sean Hannity would be questioning it.

It's actually getting to be a really popular name (top 50) for girls..
They have 5 kids: Preston (boy), Peyton (Girl), Parker (Girl), Piper (Girl) & Pierson (Boy).

How they keep all 5 of them straight, I dunno. ;)

is we had any children -- or possibly "David Gilmour Boleyn." (If our last were really Boleyn or, more accurately, Tudor, which is happens not to be!) But "Van Palin" is hilarious.

I know.. i was telling that to my husband, and he thought I was making it up. I told him that i'm not that creative, and i forwarded him the story. He about died.

And I thought naming my kids "Kayna Jo" and "Kyleb Thomas" was a bit odd.. i've got NOTHING on the Palin's!

But Harry Waters is not the name of a future blues legend, I'm guessing.

Welcome to the nuthouse.

Hansel? Hansel?
:evilgrin:

Ahh.. but Celebrity names are always Odd anyways.

Hell - Sarah was just before her time.. she always knew she'd be a celebrity.

WAIT JUST A FUCKING MINUTE.. i thought OBAMA WAS THE BIGGEST CELEBRITY IN THE WORLD??

But that can't be true - his kids have such "normal" names... i'm confused.

Sorry about that rant..

Luckily my parents didn't name us Foot Ball and Ten Nis.


I've never liked weirdo names and now I dislike them more than ever. I figured Piper was named after Piper Laurie - wasn't that around the time "Twin Peaks" was on the air, or a little later?

She seemed a little embarrassed to tell me when I asked what the new grandbaby's name was.

I kinda like Hoss. Reminds me of the HOFF. ;) LOL

The name came from the tv show Bonanza. How weird is that for a couple of parents in their early twenties?

I think our generation is totally looking for unique names anymore. My kids are 3 and 3 months - and their names are Kayna Jo & Kyleb Thomas. Not crazy.. but I doubt you've ever heard of anyone else with the same name.

I know it drives the 40 - 60 year old generation nuts (well the ones who didn't name thier kids Rainbow and Sunshine). ;) But - I was one of 3 Erin's in my class.. and 3 of my best friends growing up were all Jennifers (one went by Jenny).

I think it's just the natural reaction to go in the opposite direction.. making your kid be the "only" kid with that name. I think you can do it tasefully though... Track by itself is kind of cute.. it's the "enfield" part that really bugs me. My kids both have "normal" middle names in case they decide at some point they don't like thier first names.. they can always decide to go by their middle names. Poor Enfield never had that choice. OY! We're back to the Choice thing with Ms. Palin, aren't we? :)

an energetic Golden Retriever and his sister, Sadie. Cute little guys!

I immidiately though of Boss Hog (From Dukes of Hazzard).

Van Palin? Track Enfield? Can you get more dumb?

Some ppl here will undoubtedly defend 'Track' or 'Trig' or whatever but the way they are paired with middle names is esp moronic.

Reminds me of the characters names in Idiocracy.

Or that's prob giving her WAY too much credit.

But Track Enfield? That's just cruel.

given her evangelical leanings.

Do you think he was bullied because of that name?

Was it cruel for Joe Biden to nickname his son "Beau"? I imagine a boy named Beau (or Joseph Robinette III) is as likely to get picked on as much as a kid named Track Enfield.

Its truly sad that this thread even exists.

Kids are cruel. And I'm not sure about Beau Biden. It's possible that it could have led to bullying.

I've known a few kids named Beau who weren't picked on for their names. When I was in school, the name seemed to be associated with Bo Jackson--"Bo knows." So it seemed like a tough-guy name.

Ehh.. back to my point on this whole thread though.. the name "Track" isn't bad.. it's the "enfield" for the middle name that's just odd. But you're right.. that's my opinion.. the next potential President of the United States is free to name her kids whatever the hells he wants. And, she's doing so quite nicely.

Not sure how it plays in Delaware.

i'd hate to post the hippy names we gave our kids. Funny, the one thing I like about the Palins are the unique names they bestowed on their offspring.

I have a feeling a few of the Army guys might have kicked his ass for that name, if he wasn't the son of the new VP. Now I think he probably wears an invisible cloak of armor that protects him from all future ass kickings due to that name.

I hope he is a fast runner... how crappy to have a name like "Track Enfield" and be a slow runner.

What if he was horrible at track and field? That would have been embarrassing.

I doubt he's going to get his ass kicked by army guys over his name. Go to Iraq Casualties and check the names of the soldiers that have died over there. Lots of different names, unusual names, foreign sounding names. I have a neighbor, a guy, named Francis, who served in Iraq (national guard) and I asked him if he got grief about his name (we call him Frannie around here) and he said he got some good natured teasing, but never anything mean spirited.

Like a lot of iraq vets, he thinks the policies that got us into that fucked up mess were, well, fucked up. And he's supporting Obama. But while he opposes the war and the repubs who brought it to us, he stands with and by his "band of brothers and sisters" (his words) all the way.

It would have been embarrassing if he couldn't run, with a name like that.

.

It sorta sounds kick ass really. Nice job - I give you the prize for the best (legit) name so far:

Bristol & Levi welcome baby Hock. ;)

As far as Palin's kids names go..they are awful. I have two daughtes ages 3 and 4 and I would never name them "Track" Trig" or "Willow". Bristol is actually a pretty name and Piper is okay but Track? Ick.

how cool, huh? he could be president!

to actually "create" the kid. ;)

too much info?

:rofl:

:puke:

It was the first day of summer camp and the counselors were calling the roster: Gynelotrimin, Chlamydia, Saudi Arabia ... too funny.

British 303

Actually - that alone is fine.. i bet his first name isn't Track. :)

British 303

The snide digs at Biden's background in the article bother me more than Todd Palin's explanation of his kids' names. So using alternative names is a "preppy" custom? FWIW, my husband's family in rural Alabama - about as far from preppy elite as you could find - called everyone by something other than their given name. Makes it really hard to figure out who's who.

considered a "preppy."

My dad was named after his father, but went by a different name, just like Joe Biden's kids.

The Lee-Enfield, the rifle the British used in both world wars. Unbelievable.

Christ, I bet the Gun Nuts are jerking off over this.....

another poster just said that same thing.. an Enfield is a Gun. HA.. 100 posts before anyone pointed that out.. goes to know how much us liberals know about friggin' guns.

Alright.. so Track Enfield.. i was kinda wondering why she spelled "and Field" Enfield - but I thought she didn't want to make it that obvious.

Doh.. i really don't know if this makes me hate the name more or less now. :eyes:

Wow. Just wow. As if the idea of Enfield = and field wasn't bad enough.

because I thought surely someone is pulling our leg here. Maybe it's from the Onion. But looks like it's the real deal. No wonder Track's got issues.

result of his name.. or just merely his parents who came up with the name - so I guess it all starts at the same place. ;)

I wonder if she mocks and makes fun of them all the time. I have a feeling poor Track Enfield got made fun of in school. I know how that feels.. still have scars from that time in my life.

Damn moron parents.

My friend and I pissed outselves laughing coming up with names for her every expanding crew.

Somebody made a comment in another thread about "Track Enfield" - I had no idea they were serious.

Joseph Stalin Palin, Book Ban Palin, B.P Oil Palin, Fish Erman Palin, Po Lerbear Palin.

kicking to find later and show my wife

:rofl: