There's something in this "boy named Sue"

Those of us who run the editorial page side of things here at the Sun-Times have what a researcher now tells us are NOT "bad boy" names. We've got a Tom, a Rich, a couple of Steves. We've also got a Kate and a Mary, which we suspect are "good girl" names, but the researcher didn't study that side of the gender fence.

But is a name really destiny? Is an Alec or a Luke really more likely to go wrong?

This is sensitive ground. Some years back, the late great Chicago columnist Mike Royko got into piping hot water when he suggested that African-American kids might have a better chance of success in the larger world if they were not given obvious African-American names. Angry readers pointed out that nobody would dare tell members of other groups -- such as the Irish with their Seans and the Italians with their Roccos -- to cool it on the ethnic pride. Royko quickly apologized.

All the same, there really is power in a name, right? As the blogger at Babble.com says, we all know from Johnny Cash that you can bet on a life of grief if you're "a boy named Sue."