Luigi

Brett told Meg and I that he was thinking that he about naming his second son Luigi.  I didn't think much of it when he said it, except that it didn't really make sense since we were German, not Italian.  I realized that Brett probably had a religious reason for picking the name, but as he wasn't even married yet, I didn't ask him any more about it.    

Meg felt differently.  She thought that it was the worst decision that Brett could ever make.  She envisioned him living in Southern Indiana with Luigi Heinisch getting picked on every day at school for being named after a Mario character.  She was also concerned that he would offend Italians by choosing the name.  

After Meg called me to ask my opinion and to give me hers, I decided to check in with Brett.  I was right in that he wanted to name his second born son after a Saint Luigi whom he respected a lot.  He had actually thought about the name being misconstrued as an homage to one of his favorite Mario characters.  The one thing that he hadn't thought about was the fact that he was upsetting Meg by not taking her opinion seriously.  Because of that he was able to instantly talk about alternatives, like choosing the English version of Luigi, Louis.  Meg felt a lot better after I told her that, and Brett agreed to table any name considerations until at least he had a child on the way.

Several days after we talked, there was a new discussion brewing in our family.  The CEO of United Healthcare was murdered on the streets of New York by a disgruntled former customer.  The person of interest was on the run from the police.  It amazed me that a lot of people were actually supporting the murderer because of the high costs of medical insurance and the number of claims denied by United Healthcare and other big providers.  The story was all over the media and eventually the perpetrator was recognized by a McDonald's employee.  Nothing about the story was funny to any of us until we heard the fugitives first name - Luigi.  After that, Brett's siblings let him know that he could definitely cross that name off of any lists for future children.