# The name that defines your lifetime **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 2, 2010, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014 "2010-03-02T18:05:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/21 "2010-03-03T02:07:21Z")
US history: Barack Obama (regardless of how he does for the next 3/7 years). World history: Mikhail Gorbachev ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/22 "2010-03-03T02:31:48Z")
Kennedy ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/23 "2010-03-03T02:55:51Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Why unfortunately? Are you Cuban? I doubt there are many who consider Castro’s reign a fortunate occurrence, Cuban or not. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/24 "2010-03-03T06:37:39Z")
Elizabeth II. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/25 "2010-03-03T13:21:12Z")
Brangelina ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/26 "2010-03-03T15:30:10Z")
Nelson Mandela ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/27 "2010-03-03T18:24:22Z")
Homer Simpson. ---
**Author:** ![lalenin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@lalenin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lalenin)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/28 "2010-03-03T20:19:19Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Why unfortunately? Are you Cuban? I am. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/29 "2010-03-03T20:52:45Z")
I hope in a few decades I’ll be able to say Obama, but otherwise I suspect it’ll be Reagan. Dunno, though - hard to think of one person who, or thing which, has so totally dominated my lifetime that it hereafter will be “the Era of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/30 "2010-03-03T21:17:53Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I hope in a few decades I’ll be able to say Obama, but otherwise I suspect it’ll be Reagan. Dunno, though - hard to think of one person who, or thing which, has so totally dominated my lifetime that it hereafter will be “the Era of \_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_.” Excellent point. It makes me wonder how many people alive at the time of Napoleon or Alexander had ever even heard of those guys. Bring that forward to our day and it’s even more difficult to single out a living person to symbolize the time that is really your own. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/31 "2010-03-03T21:25:12Z")
Yeah, it could be some now-anonymous scientist who’s going to figure out cold fusion tomorrow, but its implications won’t be known for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/32 "2010-03-03T23:24:15Z")
My first thought was Hitler, but maybe Stalin or Mao. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/33 "2010-03-03T23:30:57Z")
Michael Jackson. I can’t remember a time in my lifetime when he WASN’T in the news, either because of a new hit record, being burned, getting crazy plastic surgery, getting charged with a shwack of horrid stuff, flinging his baby over a balcony and finally dying from a drug overdose and the ongoing charges, etc to his doctors and douche-baggery of his father. Dude was ubiquitous during the late 70s, 80s, 90s and 00s. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2010, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/34 "2010-03-03T23:38:10Z")
> [@alice\_in\_wonderland](#): > > Michael Jackson. Hard to argue with the logic and the fact that as far as Cultural Icons go, not many can outshine him. I’d vote for him over Oprah for damn sure. How would Eastwood compare? Been around all my life. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2010, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014/35 "2010-03-04T12:26:12Z")
Ronald Reagan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-name-that-defines-your-lifetime/531014.md?page=1)