January 16, 2004

Brad^2

Posted by Daniel

In an interview with Norman Geras, J Bradford DeLong makes the following odd statement:

If you had to change your first name, what would you change it to?

> Brad :)

So in an ideal world, he’d be called Bradford Bradford DeLong? Without wanting to cast aspersions, I have to say that if Prof DeLong had ever been to Bradford, he might not be so keen on having it in his name, twice.

Posted on January 16, 2004 05:29 PM UTC
Comments

Maybe “Bradford” has that property of negatives such that two Bradfords is the same as none?

Posted by Nasi Lemak · January 16, 2004 06:47 PM

I have a friend who at her, what is it, confirmation as a Catholic, where you choose a middle name of one of the saints or something? Anyway, she hadn’t paid attention in the class preparing her for it, so when the priest asked her what her name was, meaning what middle name she had chosen, she told him her first name. Which means that now her name is in some technical sense Lynne Lynne deBenedette.

Posted by laura · January 16, 2004 09:17 PM

He, the young man carbuncular, arrives,

A small house agent’s clerk, with one bold stare,

One of the low on whom assurance sits

As a silk hat on a Bradford millionaire.

That was the natural association for Eliot, anyway - more millionaires per head pre-1914 than anywhere else in the UK.

It is a pretty interesting place you know. All that Germanic architecture (a favourite for shooting films - c.f. Alan Bennett, Writing Home )

Posted by Karl Marx · January 16, 2004 10:41 PM

I bet he’s under the mistaken impression that brad is short for bradley.

Posted by bryan · January 16, 2004 11:02 PM

At the moment, his blog seems to have the title of “Brad DeLong’s Brad DeLong’s Semi-Daily Journal,” adding another layer of iterated nomenclature.

Posted by Henry · January 17, 2004 01:12 AM

My name is James Bradford DeLong…

Posted by Brad DeLong · January 17, 2004 01:46 AM

One can be named “Brad” without being named “Bradford”, of course. Obviously he wants to be named Brad Bradford DeLong.

Posted by ben wolfson · January 17, 2004 04:14 AM

Novelist Ford Madox Hueffer decided he didn’t like the sound of his name, and changed it to Ford Madox Ford. (DeLong Bradford DeLong… has a ring.)

Posted by Jeffrey Kramer · January 17, 2004 04:30 AM

“My name is James Bradford DeLong.”

Well, I’m certainly glad now I know everything about you there is to know! That was the one last thing!

That was the most ridiculous interview I have ever heard! What in the heck were you wearing? OK, don’t tell me. HAHA.

Just saw a really interesting Mideast military souvenir- you might have to go get one. One of the student workers brought back a pair of plastic embedded long-horned beetles from Quatar, I think. On the top it says “Happy Blessings.”

Posted by LaughingWoman · January 17, 2004 02:20 PM

No Butros Butros-Ghali jokes?

There’s also a guy named W.C. Dampier Dampier-Whetham. Does he count?

Posted by zizka · January 18, 2004 06:18 AM

Fordie was born Ford Hermann Hueffer. IIRC, he changed the middle name to Madox out of reverence for his ancestor, Ford Madox Brown, and the last name to Ford because he thought that for an English guy to have a German surname during the Great War was, or would be perceived as, unpatriotic.

Posted by Mr Ripley · January 18, 2004 07:27 AM

While on the topic of economists’ names, does anyone know what the ‘Y’ stands for in the name of financial economist John Y. Campbell?

Posted by Mark · January 18, 2004 10:20 PM

I’m hoping it’s Ysidro, after Francis Y Edgeworth.

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Posted by Pastrami Sandwich · February 10, 2004 01:56 PM
Followups

This discussion has been closed. Thanks to everyone who contributed.