According to People magazine, 18-year-old Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, gave birth on Saturday, December 27, 2008, to a baby boy weighing 7 lbs. 7 oz. The Palin family's penchant for odd, unique names is evident in their first grandchild -- Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston -- who takes his last name from his father Levi Johnston.
Why the name Tripp? Who knows? Here's a couple of thoughts:
- For many teens, Tripp brings to mind the clothing manufacturer Tripp NYC, which describes itself as "specializing in goth, punk, industrial, new wave, and club fashion." How does the company feel about sharing its name with a scion of the Palin family? Tripp founder/designer Daang Goodman replied, "I just hope he will grow up to be a Dark Street Goth-Punk Rebel against war and become a person who bears no arms, loves peace, art, music and Tripp NYC fashion." (Since neither Bristol nor Levi seem particularly into club fashion, that's probably not the basis for the name.)
- Perhaps the politically-minded Palins named Tripp after Herman T. Tripp, a prominent Alaska politician and Republican member of the First Alaska Territorial Senate from 1913-1914. Like Sarah Palin, he too started out as mayor; Tripp was mayor of Juneau, Alaska from 1906-1907.
UPDATE (December 31, 2008): Reader jcdevildog offers other possibilities for naming the baby Tripp:
"Tripp" is a common upper-class nickname (at least in the South)for someone who is the third of his name, e.g. James Howard Blassengill III. There are a lot of preppies who go by "Tripp": maybe the baby's parents thought that was a classy name, not knowing that no prep would actually NAME their yuppy-puppy "Tripp". Or maybe the Palin-Johnston offspring is named after Matthew McConaghy's character in "Failure to Launch" or Donald Sutherland's in "Dirty Sexy Money". Pretty sure it's not for Linda Tripp: I doubt even Gov. Grandma remembers who she is!Related article: What's the Meaning Behind the Palin's Kids' Names?
Comments
Maybe it indicates their enjoyment of psychoactive substances?
Where can I find the great bumper sticker, “She doesn’t speak for me”?
Anyone know??
“Tripp” is a common upper-class nickname (at least in the South)for someone who is the third of his name, e.g. James Howard Blassengill III. There are a lot of preppies who go by “Tripp”: maybe the baby’s parents thought that was a classy name, not knowing that no prep would actually NAME their yuppy-puppy “Tripp”. Or maybe the Palin-Johnston offspring is named after Matthew McConaghy’s character in “Failure to Launch” or Donald Sutherland’s in “Dirty Sexy Money”. Pretty sure it’s not for Linda Tripp: I doubt even Gov. Grandma remembers who she is! LOL
Thanks, jcdevildog. As you can see, I’ve added your observations to the original post in an update and credited you. I thought I’d heard the nickname Tripp used on Ivy League campuses, but never associated it with ‘triple’ or ‘third.’ You learn something new every day.
First picture of the latest Palin spawn: http://flickr.com/photos/jtropp1/3159082138/
Trigg is for trigger (as in : my mother shoots Rudolf the bloody-nosed reindeer). Tripp is for tripper (as in : my grandmother is a drug dealer)
People who ridicule the Palins for their unusual family names probably would never, ever comment about parents who name their children Quantiesha, Jar’Nathia, Dauntrelle, LaQuisha, DeMontae etc., etc., etc.
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I just named my second son Tripp, only because I have a facination with the “tri” – my first son is named Tristan. I went to high school with a boy named Tripper, yes it was his legal name and he was quite popular. Leave it to a bunch of liberals to crap all over an innocent baby name, after all liberals like to kill babies as it is.