How Much Can You Tell About a Guy From His Name?

The other night, my friend Cate and I were at our favorite neighborhood beer garden, which is so close to both of our apartments (instead of using the ladies room there, we'll head home and come back instead!), has plenty of picnic tables and cheap beer, and is a great place to make new friends.

Anyway, she and I were confabbing about life when we somehow joined in the convo with the cute guys at the next table and eventually, after we talked about the merits of the free popcorn at one neighborhood bar versus the free goldfish crackers at another neighborhood bar, we got around to introductions.

"I'm Dusty," one shaggy-haired blond said, offering a lopsided smile as he offered his hand.

"Let me guess," I said. "You're from Texas, Montana, or Wyoming. Your parents own at least one horse, and you had a chipped tooth from a riding accident as a kid, which is now covered with a veneer. You went East for school, and you had girls falling all over you in college."

"How did you know?" He asked.

"The name," I smiled easily. A lot of it was also in the delivery, though-sort of how a psychic pretends to know way more than they do-but that was my party trick for the rest of the night. Turns out, he was from Texas, did ride horses (not sure about the tooth thing!), and went east for school. But a lot of that was just a lucky guess. And the name-to me-seems so cowboy distinctive.

What do you think? How much can you tell about a man from a name? Any favorite/least favorite names? (as I was writing this, I just realized I've dated 3 Johns and 2 Mikes!)

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