Name Your Child “Honest John”

A lot of people are jeering at Bernie Madoff, the guy who ran a big Ponzi scheme the other day. They make jokes out of his name, like “Look how much Bernie ‘made off’ with.” Okay, maybe the guy has it coming, but imagine a lifetime of that kind of needling. Think about what it must have like for Bernie to grow up with his school chums teasing him about how his name made him sound like a thief. Kid stuff, sure, but look what happened: His character got twisted. Next thing you know Bernie Madoff lived up to his name — or down to it — and “made off” with billions. It’s like his parents had named him “Bernie Grabyourdough.” What did they expect?

And how about Charles Ponzi? What were his parents thinking?