# Help me convince my wife to name our hypothetical son "Lester." **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150 "2010-09-26T23:08:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/21 "2010-09-27T01:30:19Z")
I once worked with a guy who used his middle name. Which was Marion. Naturally it made me wonder just how bad his first name was. I mean, who goes by L. Marion if the first name is decent? Lester. Now, there were people in generations past who thought it was a perfectly good name, apparently. They also liked “Elmer.” (A HS friend of mine named Elmer changed his name, unofficially. He changed it to…Bart. Which to me did not seem a whole lot better. Apologies to you Barts out there.) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/22 "2010-09-27T01:42:55Z")
How about I help your wife to convince you NOT to name your son “Lester” instead? ---
**Author:** ![Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Enter\_the\_Flagon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enter_the_Flagon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/23 "2010-09-27T01:47:53Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > How about I help your wife to convince you NOT to name your son “Lester” instead? Good idea. Can I help you help her? I don’t normally like to participate in a pile-on, but sometimes you just have to crush a really bad idea under the weight of overwhelming (near) unanimity. ---
**Author:** ![wunderkammer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ed8c4c/32.png) [@wunderkammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wunderkammer)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/24 "2010-09-27T01:51:50Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > Her objection to this perfect symmetry… What happens if you have a third? Stellesmée? ---
**Author:** ![Telcontar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Telcontar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telcontar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/25 "2010-09-27T01:55:21Z")
Sorry, I just can’t do that to a child. Maybe if he turns out rotten you can change his name to that, but at birth he’s done nothing to deserve it. 😉 More seriously: The name probably isn’t THAT bad, and he can go by Les. Also, if his name is Lester, he’s got a good chance of being the first google hit for his full name. Not that many famous Lesters out there: > **[Lester](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lester)** > > Lester is an ancient Anglo-Saxon surname and given name.@media all and (max-width:720px){body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .tocright{display:none}.mw-parser-output .tocright{width:100%!important}}@media all and (min-width:720px){.mw-parser-output .tocright{float:right;clear:right;width:auto;margin:0 0 0.5em 1em}.mw-parser-output .tocright-clear-left{clear:left}.mw-parser-output .tocright-clear-both{clear:both}.mw-parser-output .tocright-clear-none{clear:none}} ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/26 "2010-09-27T02:05:51Z")
> [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](#): > > I like Lester and its short form, Les. > > Lester Polsfuss, AKA Les Paul. > ‘President’ Lester Young > Lester B. Pearson, Canada’s 14th Prime Minister > Les ‘Cham’ Paine was a jazz pianist and educator in my home town. > > You pilers-on can go soak your heads. Nessman? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/27 "2010-09-27T02:23:00Z")
More music, and Les Nesman! ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/28 "2010-09-27T02:25:20Z")
Aw, you guys are a bunch of buzzkills. I guess I’ll just have to hope for another girl, so we can name her “Astor” without much controversy. > [@Le Ministre de l'au-delà](#): > > I like Lester and its short form, Les. […] Lester B. Pearson, Canada’s 14th Prime Minister Yeah, I may have omitted a small detail when I characterized her objection as simply being limited to the little hypothetical going through life named “Lester.” She also complains that “Lester” is too anglo to play well in Québec, where we plan to eventually settle. I’m not sure invoking the memory of Lester Pearson is going to help me out much in that department. 🙂 For the bully-bait objection, I protest that my male progeny is liable to be short-arsed and smart-assed, like his daddy, and therefore prime bully-bait out of the gate. I have ready advice for how to get through school diminutively scaled and nominatively challenged. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/29 "2010-09-27T02:25:23Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > More music, and Les Nesman! “As God is my witness, I thought that name would fly.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/30 "2010-09-27T02:28:40Z")
Sometimes impeccable logic just brings you to the entirely wrong place. This is one of those times. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/31 "2010-09-27T02:33:33Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > “As God is my witness, I thought that name would fly.” 😃 That’s a win, right there. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/32 "2010-09-27T02:35:49Z")
A few of the many names that would be better for your son: Humbert Mercutio Linda ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/33 "2010-09-27T02:47:22Z")
For all those pile-oners who say that “bullies will tease him”, I’ve got news for you, if a bully wants to tease you, a bully _will_ tease you. My parents named me David partly because it doesn’t rhyme with anything. Didn’t stop the bullies from calling me “David Payvid the big fat wayvid”. Meant nothing of course, but they still picked on me with my name. (Interestingly, my middle name is Herbert, that was barely touched by the bullies. (Herbert is after my dad’s brother who was a WWII hero, was killed in action on his last flight. Since I got his name I would have got his medals, but my paternal grandmother wanted to be buried with them and she died 3 years before I was born) Best I can suggest is maybe “Lester” for a middle name if you want, but, really, as I said, no matter what you choose for the first name, the bullies will tease him if they want. Or he could grow up to be the cool kid and no one will tease him about his name. (Our school’s “cool kid” was Juddson. Silly name, but never got teased because he was the cool kid.) Gee, I was pretty sure to this point that the SDMB is made up mainly of those that got bullied rather than the bullies, do y’all forget how bullies work from grade school? ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/34 "2010-09-27T02:47:36Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > I guess I’ll just have to hope for another girl, so we can name her “Astor” without much controversy. Cole Porter: “Have you heard that Mimsy Starr […] She got pinched in the Astor bar”. 🙂 > [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > A few of the many names that would be better for your son: > Humbert > Mercutio > Linda Marmaduke ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/35 "2010-09-27T02:49:16Z")
> [@Larry\_Mudd](#): > > > [@Le Ministre de l'au-delà](#): > > > > I like Lester and its short form, Les. […] Lester B. Pearson, Canada’s 14th Prime Minister > > Yeah, I may have omitted a small detail when I characterized her objection as simply being limited to the little hypothetical going through life named “Lester.” She also complains that “Lester” is too anglo to play well in Québec, where we plan to eventually settle. I’m not sure invoking the memory of Lester Pearson is going to help me out much in that department. 🙂 _Eh bien, que pense-tu de ‘Wilfred’? C’est mieux, hein?_ 😃 Oh, well, what do you think about ‘Wilfred’? That’s better, innit? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/36 "2010-09-27T02:50:21Z")
For what it’s worth, I don’t hate the name Lester because of the bullying possibilities, I hate it because the only Lester I’ve known in real life was a creepy stalker psycho dude. Spoiled the name for me. …\*and \*it sounds like a child molester’s name. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/37 "2010-09-27T03:15:02Z")
Your name isn’t [Willie Tyler](http://willieandlester.com/) by any chance? ---
**Author:** ![fuzzypickles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/9d8465/32.png) [@fuzzypickles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fuzzypickles)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/38 "2010-09-27T03:22:24Z")
Try these alternatives instead: Gay Michel Enos Ichabod Jethro Obadiah Seymour ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/39 "2010-09-27T03:26:53Z")
In a lot of threads involving relationship advice, people suggest that the OP have the other person read the thread. FYI this isn’t one of those threads. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150/40 "2010-09-27T03:57:50Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > For all those pile-oners who say that “bullies will tease him”, I’ve got news for you, if a bully wants to tease you, a bully _will_ tease you. > > My parents named me David partly because it doesn’t rhyme with anything. Didn’t stop the bullies from calling me “David Payvid the big fat wayvid”. Meant nothing of course, but they still picked on me with my name. (Interestingly, my middle name is Herbert, that was barely touched by the bullies… > Best I can suggest is maybe “Lester” for a middle name if you want, but, really, as I said, no matter what you choose for the first name, the bullies will tease him if they want. Or he could grow up to be the cool kid and no one will tease him about his name. (Our school’s “cool kid” was Juddson. Silly name, but never got teased because he was the cool kid.) > > Gee, I was pretty sure to this point that the SDMB is made up mainly of those that got bullied rather than the bullies, do y’all forget how bullies work from grade school? All the more reason not to give them ammo. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-convince-my-wife-to-name-our-hypothetical-son-lester/555150.md?page=3)