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Marshall: Names, names and schools; trivial stuff

Published 10/24/2008 in None : Columns

Over the past week I have spent quite a bit of time in Sublette covering the Hi-Plains League volleyball tournament. I was there Saturday for the pool play, involving all 11 schools. Then I returned Tuesday for the semifinals and finals. As I was thinking about interviewing certain players and coaches, I perused the game program listing all the rosters. I soon became intrigued with the names of the girls from the schools and realized that there are no longer traditional ways of spelling girls' names.

After scouring the program I began to realize that in today's world, parents must not have lists too often to find names such as Beth (or Elizabeth) or Susan, or Amy, or Jennifer or Sarah.

Today, you will find names such as Kayla or Keyla; Kai, Kamie or Kami; Breanna or Brianna; Kylee, Kayla or Kaylee; Lacey or Laci; Taylor or Tayler; Aleasha, Alecia, Alisha, Alesha or Alicia (yes, that's five different spellings). There's Hanna and Hannah; Kelsey and Kelsy; Michaela, Mikaehla, Makayla or Mykala; Jayce or Jaycee; Payton or Peyton; Jody, Jodi or Jodie; Mackenzie or Makenzie; Alek, Alyx or Alex; Sumr or Summer; Daryan or Darian.

Singular names that I found included Meranda, Paige, Gylee, Minerba, Naura, Britny, Gaby, Fantasia, Yesica, Mariah, Marista, Nataly, Cassidy, Dani, Andreia, Keyton, Jalen, Janae, Avery, Zoe, Cheyenne and two named Dakota. My favorite, though, is Caitlin, or is it Kaitlin, or Caitlyn, or Katelyn.

Yes, that's what I was doing this week to figure out what to write about. I long for the day when I can see the name Kathy, or is that Cathy, or is that Kathi, or Cathi? I just have to make sure I ask how names are spelled -- as any good journalist would.

u u u

I never really can explain some of the things that come to this writer's mind. Let's just say that it isn't one-tracked.

I spend a good share of my week communicating with athletic directors and coaches at the area high schools, but at this time of year there are regionals and sub-state in other communities that we don't interact with on a regular basis. My phone book for this group of administrators is the Kansas State High School Activities Association membership directory. In it, you will find all sorts of important information if you're a sports writer. School names, nicknames, league affiliation, listing of coaches, phone numbers, and even e-mail addresses of athletic director's and principals. It is my bible of prep sports.

Well, as they say, 'curiosity can kill the cat' and I became curious about how many schools were identified with each letter of the alphabet. To nobody's surprise, I found no schools that start with the letter Z.

There is only one school that begins with the letter Y -- Yates Center. There is only one that starts with the letter Q -- Quinter. There are no schools that begin with X. The letter A has 19 schools in its group. The letter G is shared by Garden City and 13 other schools. So what are the most prominent letters for schools in Kansas? The letter S, thanks to Shawnee Mission schools, leads the pack with 38. W, and Wichita, is next with 30 schools.

As I said, this information really isn't worth much, but I find the trivia interesting. Now you can see what happens when a writer's mind takes off into the twilight zone.

Sports Editor Brett Marshall can be reached at bmarshall@gctelegram.com

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