Logan Gar-Long Le: The Name
I have to admit that I love daydreaming about naming our kids. Geneva and I have had basically the same short list for a while (since Sydney). We still follow the rule of having a short list (two to three per gender) and then picking the name that suits the kid.
When Logan arrived, mommy took one look at him. The nurse said, "it's a boy" and I was thinking "man, he's really big", and all mom whispered (because she was exhausted) was "Logan..." The nurse asked what mom said, and mom replied, "His name is Logan."
In general, boys names were tougher to come up with than girls names. The process for coming up with names is that dad usually stays up late at night and brainstorms/ googles/ analyzes alphabet and number sequences and then presents a short list to mom (who then vetoes everything). We go back and forth on the process indefinitely until there are at least two names we would seriously consider (and a couple that each of us like, but not really... and that we know will get vetoed by the other).
So Logan, here's the story as to "Why Logan?" It's not as transparent as you would think (yeah, Auntika and Auntie Tanya).
1) A special relationship to dad and mom's name. As you read with Sydney's name, there's an art and a science to the selection. The part that is art is the strength of the name. In my own experience, particularily since I've been working, I credit my first name with being a part of my success. David (meaning Beloved) is a strong name that I think commands respect (even I don't myself...:)). Nowhere was this more evident than when I worked at Intrawest. There were 12 executives named either David or Doug, including my boss's boss and his boss too. I really wanted you to have a strong, succinct, and powerful name, one that came across as friendly and approachable but at the same time intelligent, passionate, and powerful. In addition, going by the scientific numbers game, both our names are five letter long and contain 3 consonants and 2 vowels - in the same alternating order. The connection to your mom's name is similar to mine with Sydney's, you have a "G" in your first name to link to your mom.
2) Big Tree. The literal meaning of Logan is Scottish or Gaelic for "hollow", which I think suits you as the first thing that comes to mind is a big and tall tree hollow where a bear or other forest animals might catch a nap in. You were big, and you are still big... :) Gong Gong thinks that you'll grow taller than him... like 6'2" or 6'3"... i hope he plans to move here to feed you if that's the case. In addition though, you'll hopefully be growing up in North Vancouver with your sister. I've never lived anywhere where the trees grow so fast and so tall. We love that there is this nature, green, earthly connotation with your name.
3) Logan - The Uncanny Obvious. Yes, part of what factored into Logan making the original short list was Wolverine from the X-Men. I collected the X-Men comic book from the time that I was six years old. Back then, Ong Ba Noi said that I wouldn't get anywhere reading comic books, watching sports, and playing video games (haha... at least we can all look back and laugh now). I loved the story of the X-Men. They were superhumans that battled through social injustice and prejudice to defend all people regardless of those people's affinity or hatred of them as "mutants". I always read into the story as more of a social commentary on the persistence and passion of minorities around the world, the prejudice and disproportional adversity that they have to overcome, and the ability they had to define what they thought it meant to be a hero independent of how society or others defined them. Growing up, Cyclops was my favourite X-Men, but his first name was Scott (which neither your mother or I liked particularily) and as I grew older Cyclops really was written as a more linear character. In the late 70s, a character called Wolverine was introduced and I read about him in the first XMen comic I ever got (Giant Size X-Men #1, one of the most significant comics of the Silver Age). His real name was Logan, codenamed Weapon X; he was Canadian and he was unstoppable. His first appearance was in a Hulk comic book where he is sent to kick the Hulk out of Canada. It was a true David vs Goliath match-up (nice reference eh?). In the decades to follow, he has gone on to become one of the most popular characters in comic book history. I love that he is passionate, is a character that so many people and other characters identify with and gravitate towards, that he is complex as an individual but at the same time simple in his leadership and action. Your mom may never admit this, but she probably has a subconscious soft spot for the name as one of her favourite actors, Hugh Jackman, played Wolverine in the X-Men movies. Seriously, every woman in the world loves Hugh Jackman... good grief. I digress, the net net is that in years to come when your mom and I were together, mommy would go with me to comic conventions, countless comic book stores, watch comic book movies, etc. because she is wonderful and would never change that part of who I am (watching Hugh Jackman and The Rock were added bonuses). P.S. Sydney, you can thank your mom that you are not named Ororo.
4) Logan Huntzberger - The not so obvious. One of mom's favourite shows was Gilmore Girls. It was a show about a single mom and a daughter growing up together. Rory was the daughter, and in the last few seasons she had a boyfriend named Logan. He was a kid that came from a rich publishing family, and in the three seasons that he was on the show his character evolved from aloof youngester, to serious/ successful/ and committed young-executive-in-the-making. His character was funny and outlandish, and very passionate about Rory and respectful to Lorilei (the mom). Outside of the character itself, Gilmore Girls was the ONE mommy show that I actually grew to really enjoy watching. Most of mom's shows I hate (i.e. Greg's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, anything scary scientific as well). The show and the name remind of a time and place where before you and Sydney came along, where mom and dad still always tried to find things that we mutually loved. And I have to admit, the show was witty, dry, sharp, fast and extremely well written. I really grew to love it and the characters. More than that, I just loved sitting on the couch with your mom and watching a show that we could both laugh about.
Logan. Don't get obsessed with the characters themselves. In both the cases of the X-Men and Gilmore Girls, it's not the characters that you are named after specifically. Albeit, with the characters, you have intelligent, wise, cunning, passionate, loving, strong-willed, compassionate people. More important than that, you have two examples of dad and mom having polar opposite interests in things individually, but that we reached out of our comfort zones to find a mutual interest that we nurtured to become an important part of the fabric of our relationship.
oh and...
5) Last but not least, mom liked the name and made the final call on it.
Your middle name is more straight forward. You were named after both of your Uncles and in a way that respects your Chinese and Vietnamese heritage (something very important us that we always some respect to you Grandparents and your family history). Uncle Kirby's name is Gar-Lung in Chinese. "Gar" is a family name from your Gong Gong's side that, like your sister Sydney, we wanted to pay respect to. In Vietnamese, Uncle Ian's name is Long Dang Le or Le-Dang-Long. Lung in Chinese and Long in Vietnamese both mean "dragon." I know from years of being best friends with Ian, that while the "Long Dang" jokes were weird as a kid, he really learned to embrace and have fun with that meaning as he got older and much more confident. More importantly, I know how much he loves having the meaning behind the name. From his pursuit of Dragon ski goggles to looking at silk paintings of Dragons in Da Lat, it's always been a name and a creature that he's looked at with awe, mythological magic, and beauty. And as you've seen in a previous post, Uncle Kirby was a big part in getting our house ready to be your home when you arrived. The fact that Uncle Kirby and I have a ton of interests in common (transformers, video games, Nintendo fans, comic book collectors) doesn't hurt either. Your two Uncles are two people that share qualities similar to those associated with the characters of your first name: passionate, intelligent, compassionate, and caring and loyal to their loved ones. Mom and I really want you to know how special they are, and what great role models they will be for you. Again, it's interesting coincidence that they share the same meaning in their middle name and that they were both born in the year of the dragon as well.
Hopefully you'll see that a lot of time went into picking your name. Triple L or LL (like the song Mama Said Knock You Out... which is a separate story for a separate day), you'll have a lot of nicknames I'm sure (Auntika and Auntie Tanya will already be calling you Wolvie or Wolverine I'm sure). There was something special about your name Logan Gar-Long Le. It seems like a lot of separate pieces to a puzzle fit perfectly together. You are our beautiful baby boy, we hope that you grow to love your name.
When Logan arrived, mommy took one look at him. The nurse said, "it's a boy" and I was thinking "man, he's really big", and all mom whispered (because she was exhausted) was "Logan..." The nurse asked what mom said, and mom replied, "His name is Logan."
In general, boys names were tougher to come up with than girls names. The process for coming up with names is that dad usually stays up late at night and brainstorms/ googles/ analyzes alphabet and number sequences and then presents a short list to mom (who then vetoes everything). We go back and forth on the process indefinitely until there are at least two names we would seriously consider (and a couple that each of us like, but not really... and that we know will get vetoed by the other).
So Logan, here's the story as to "Why Logan?" It's not as transparent as you would think (yeah, Auntika and Auntie Tanya).
1) A special relationship to dad and mom's name. As you read with Sydney's name, there's an art and a science to the selection. The part that is art is the strength of the name. In my own experience, particularily since I've been working, I credit my first name with being a part of my success. David (meaning Beloved) is a strong name that I think commands respect (even I don't myself...:)). Nowhere was this more evident than when I worked at Intrawest. There were 12 executives named either David or Doug, including my boss's boss and his boss too. I really wanted you to have a strong, succinct, and powerful name, one that came across as friendly and approachable but at the same time intelligent, passionate, and powerful. In addition, going by the scientific numbers game, both our names are five letter long and contain 3 consonants and 2 vowels - in the same alternating order. The connection to your mom's name is similar to mine with Sydney's, you have a "G" in your first name to link to your mom.
2) Big Tree. The literal meaning of Logan is Scottish or Gaelic for "hollow", which I think suits you as the first thing that comes to mind is a big and tall tree hollow where a bear or other forest animals might catch a nap in. You were big, and you are still big... :) Gong Gong thinks that you'll grow taller than him... like 6'2" or 6'3"... i hope he plans to move here to feed you if that's the case. In addition though, you'll hopefully be growing up in North Vancouver with your sister. I've never lived anywhere where the trees grow so fast and so tall. We love that there is this nature, green, earthly connotation with your name.
3) Logan - The Uncanny Obvious. Yes, part of what factored into Logan making the original short list was Wolverine from the X-Men. I collected the X-Men comic book from the time that I was six years old. Back then, Ong Ba Noi said that I wouldn't get anywhere reading comic books, watching sports, and playing video games (haha... at least we can all look back and laugh now). I loved the story of the X-Men. They were superhumans that battled through social injustice and prejudice to defend all people regardless of those people's affinity or hatred of them as "mutants". I always read into the story as more of a social commentary on the persistence and passion of minorities around the world, the prejudice and disproportional adversity that they have to overcome, and the ability they had to define what they thought it meant to be a hero independent of how society or others defined them. Growing up, Cyclops was my favourite X-Men, but his first name was Scott (which neither your mother or I liked particularily) and as I grew older Cyclops really was written as a more linear character. In the late 70s, a character called Wolverine was introduced and I read about him in the first XMen comic I ever got (Giant Size X-Men #1, one of the most significant comics of the Silver Age). His real name was Logan, codenamed Weapon X; he was Canadian and he was unstoppable. His first appearance was in a Hulk comic book where he is sent to kick the Hulk out of Canada. It was a true David vs Goliath match-up (nice reference eh?). In the decades to follow, he has gone on to become one of the most popular characters in comic book history. I love that he is passionate, is a character that so many people and other characters identify with and gravitate towards, that he is complex as an individual but at the same time simple in his leadership and action. Your mom may never admit this, but she probably has a subconscious soft spot for the name as one of her favourite actors, Hugh Jackman, played Wolverine in the X-Men movies. Seriously, every woman in the world loves Hugh Jackman... good grief. I digress, the net net is that in years to come when your mom and I were together, mommy would go with me to comic conventions, countless comic book stores, watch comic book movies, etc. because she is wonderful and would never change that part of who I am (watching Hugh Jackman and The Rock were added bonuses). P.S. Sydney, you can thank your mom that you are not named Ororo.
4) Logan Huntzberger - The not so obvious. One of mom's favourite shows was Gilmore Girls. It was a show about a single mom and a daughter growing up together. Rory was the daughter, and in the last few seasons she had a boyfriend named Logan. He was a kid that came from a rich publishing family, and in the three seasons that he was on the show his character evolved from aloof youngester, to serious/ successful/ and committed young-executive-in-the-making. His character was funny and outlandish, and very passionate about Rory and respectful to Lorilei (the mom). Outside of the character itself, Gilmore Girls was the ONE mommy show that I actually grew to really enjoy watching. Most of mom's shows I hate (i.e. Greg's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives, anything scary scientific as well). The show and the name remind of a time and place where before you and Sydney came along, where mom and dad still always tried to find things that we mutually loved. And I have to admit, the show was witty, dry, sharp, fast and extremely well written. I really grew to love it and the characters. More than that, I just loved sitting on the couch with your mom and watching a show that we could both laugh about.
Logan. Don't get obsessed with the characters themselves. In both the cases of the X-Men and Gilmore Girls, it's not the characters that you are named after specifically. Albeit, with the characters, you have intelligent, wise, cunning, passionate, loving, strong-willed, compassionate people. More important than that, you have two examples of dad and mom having polar opposite interests in things individually, but that we reached out of our comfort zones to find a mutual interest that we nurtured to become an important part of the fabric of our relationship.
oh and...
5) Last but not least, mom liked the name and made the final call on it.
Your middle name is more straight forward. You were named after both of your Uncles and in a way that respects your Chinese and Vietnamese heritage (something very important us that we always some respect to you Grandparents and your family history). Uncle Kirby's name is Gar-Lung in Chinese. "Gar" is a family name from your Gong Gong's side that, like your sister Sydney, we wanted to pay respect to. In Vietnamese, Uncle Ian's name is Long Dang Le or Le-Dang-Long. Lung in Chinese and Long in Vietnamese both mean "dragon." I know from years of being best friends with Ian, that while the "Long Dang" jokes were weird as a kid, he really learned to embrace and have fun with that meaning as he got older and much more confident. More importantly, I know how much he loves having the meaning behind the name. From his pursuit of Dragon ski goggles to looking at silk paintings of Dragons in Da Lat, it's always been a name and a creature that he's looked at with awe, mythological magic, and beauty. And as you've seen in a previous post, Uncle Kirby was a big part in getting our house ready to be your home when you arrived. The fact that Uncle Kirby and I have a ton of interests in common (transformers, video games, Nintendo fans, comic book collectors) doesn't hurt either. Your two Uncles are two people that share qualities similar to those associated with the characters of your first name: passionate, intelligent, compassionate, and caring and loyal to their loved ones. Mom and I really want you to know how special they are, and what great role models they will be for you. Again, it's interesting coincidence that they share the same meaning in their middle name and that they were both born in the year of the dragon as well.
Hopefully you'll see that a lot of time went into picking your name. Triple L or LL (like the song Mama Said Knock You Out... which is a separate story for a separate day), you'll have a lot of nicknames I'm sure (Auntika and Auntie Tanya will already be calling you Wolvie or Wolverine I'm sure). There was something special about your name Logan Gar-Long Le. It seems like a lot of separate pieces to a puzzle fit perfectly together. You are our beautiful baby boy, we hope that you grow to love your name.
posted by ippssy_eggos @ 10:58 PM
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