Earlier today, I left a comment in response to a friend’s post about the recent birth and rather unique naming of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s twins: Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline.
It went a little something like this:
“Knox was on my shortlist for our son, who is now 14. I heard it used in Dead Poets Society (Knox Overstreet was the name of one of the boys) and immediately fell in love. All I can say is THANK GOD I didn’t use it, because if I had, I would be beside myself with FURY right about now. Just think of all the small-minded, unimaginative, lemming morons who will now be bestowing it upon their sons. UGH.”
To which my delightful friend responded:
“Hah! You made a lucky break. Out of curiosity, what name won out over Knox?”
To which I answered:
“Well, in the end, as far as my husband and I were concerned, there was only ONE name that would possibly do. We named him after our favorite writer. The best part is, as it turns out, our son plans on being a sports writer and commentator — so his name turned out to be not only a gift, but an absolute infusion of the traits that would eventually shape the person he would become.”
For the record, our son could not be any prouder of his name or the extraordinary writer from whence it originated; he is now his biggest fan.
Our Inspiration.

About muffybolding
Muffy Bolding is a mother/writer/actor/knitter/feminist/withered debutante who likes the smell of asparagus pee, and remains obsessed with the bathroom hygiene of her three children -- despite the fact that they are 23, 19, and 16. She is blissfully married to a cute Jewish boy who looks like Willie Wonka, but remains tragically in love with the dead poet, Ted Hughes. She has the mouth of a Teamster, and her patron saint is Rocco (pestilence relief.) Ms. Bolding lives in Southern California, where she enjoys typing words, making movies, and plucking the rings from the fingers of the dead. She was the co-creator and Editor-in-Chief of the award winning satire zine, Fresno Lampoon, and in between writing screenplays, carnival barking, and savagely threatening her trio of darling larvae with a wooden spoon, she currently publishes the zine, "Withered Debutante." More of her work can also be found in the anthology, "Mamaphonic: Balancing Motherhood and Other Creative Acts", the compilation zine, "Mamaphiles III: Coming Home", as well as in The Cortland Review and hipmama.com. She is currently writing and producing for film and television, and working on a book of essays entitled, "Inside A Chinese Dragon." She has slept around, but not nearly as much as she would have liked.