Last Friday and again this morning, on FirstNews, co-anchor Jere Gish was asking for your help in coming up with a name for the baby he and wife, Barb, are expecting in the next month or so. They have a girl's name in mind but are stumped on a possible moniker for a little boy. (I also have been lobbying to get Jere's name changed from it's current spelling to "Jerry." Jere agrees that the name is a challenge for spellers...and, frankly, I think his parents did it just to toughen their son up...like a modified version of A Boy Named Sue.) KMBC's own Michele Rooney had the best idea for a name: Petri...Petri Gish. You can still let us know your ideas for names by e-mailing me, jnichols@hearst.com and I will pass it onto Jere.

We also had a story about the fastest growing name, in terms of popularity, since 1880: Nevaeh...heaven spelled backwards. It may be a little confusing for the child, at first. But, I guess you just have to tell him or her that, if you are being teased or having trouble explaining the origin of your name don't be afraid to ask for "pleh."

On our first real date, my wife and I came up with six possible children's' names. We were walking through a park after a picnic and started talking about kids, which led to names, which led to a wedding, polka band, mortgage, diapers, formula, more diapers, first days of school, college brochures...to think it all started with peanut butter sandwiches and a bag of Doritos. We actually ended up using one of the names. Some of my ideas were dismissed immediately: Wooden Nichols...Penny Nichols...Buffalo Nichols...Rasputin. (That last one was just a joke.) While we have middle names for our kids that have family connections, the first names are mainly just because we liked them. Sometimes it is hard to know why a name tickles one's fancy...or why someone would want their fancy tickled in the first place.

One of my brothers, when he was small, always said he wanted to name his son Clifford. No reason...this was long before the Big Red Dog of that name. He just liked the name. My parents used the name "Guy" as a middle for another brother. Apparently they thought that Craig "Fella" Nichols was too stuck-up.

For a long time, etched into the concrete of a sidewalk where my family lived when I was born, there was a list of our family names: "Ron, Wanda, Randy, Craig, Mark and ???" I think the question marks were because I wasn't born yet but my brothers always insisted I was, indeed, already born but my actual species was unknown.

If I had been born a girl, they were going to name me Julie and, after three boys, not have any idea what to do beyond that. But, since they all assumed it would be another boy, they decided on the name Joel. It was my dad's boss' name. An obvious attempt to curry favor...to ingratiate oneself with one's superior...to secure the job and move up. Well, the boss was flattered until I actually arrived. He got one look at me and fired my dad. From then on, my dad had a little nickname for me that I can't really share with you on this family site. Let's just say it was not Nevaeh-ly.