Good Names, Good People
A running, dated feed of short, positive profiles of real people — historic and present-day — who share popular names. New posts appear here on a regular schedule; every name's own detail page always shows the full set of profiles researched for it.
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April 26, 2026
Eugénie de Montijo — Eugenie
Now, French empresses aren't exactly the topic I know best, sitting out here on forty acres in the Ozarks, but I did some reading on Eugénie de Montijo, and she was Empress consort of the French, remembered as a patron…
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April 26, 2026
Princess Eugenie — Eugenie
Princess Eugenie's known for her charity work, including scoliosis awareness and anti-human-trafficking efforts, and honestly the second one is the part that actually stops me, because trafficking and exploitation are…
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April 25, 2026
Penélope Cruz — Penelope
Penélope Cruz is an Academy Award-winning Spanish actress celebrated for her work in both Spanish and English-language film, and honestly, working at that level in two languages is basically the acting equivalent of…
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April 25, 2026
Penelope Fitzgerald — Penelope
I went back to night classes for my associate's degree while I was raising four children and teaching third grade full time, so I have a soft spot for anybody who does their best work later than folks expect. Penelope…
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April 25, 2026
Penelope Keith — Penelope
Penelope Keith is an English actress beloved for classic British sitcom roles, particularly in 'The Good Life' and 'To the Manor Born,' both of which I'm told hold a rather affectionate place in British television…
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April 24, 2026
Faith Evans — Faith
I'll be straight with you, R&B isn't a lane I know well, my whole music education runs more toward Sinatra and classic rock than anything with soulful, modern vocals in it, and I don't pretend otherwise. But Faith Evans…
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April 24, 2026
Faith Hill — Faith
I'll admit country's not usually where I land, I'm more of a classic rock and Sinatra guy myself, but Faith Hill's the kind of artist even someone outside her genre has to respect — multi-platinum, known for hits like…
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April 24, 2026
Faith Ringgold — Faith
Faith Ringgold made her name with narrative quilts and children's books exploring African American history and identity, and there's something about the word 'narrative' attached to a quilt that's stuck with me since I…
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April 23, 2026
Nora Ephron — Nora
Sharp wit under pressure is a skill I actually understand pretty well from coaching, because the best in-game adjustments come from people who can think fast and still land the exact right move at the exact right…
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April 23, 2026
Nora Guthrie — Nora
Nora Guthrie has spent decades as president of the Woody Guthrie Foundation and Archives, preserving and sharing her father's musical legacy, and there's something in that work I recognize from my own family, actually…
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April 23, 2026
Nora Roberts — Nora
Nora Roberts is one of the best-selling novelists in history, known for a genuinely prolific output across romance and suspense fiction, and 'prolific' is a word I respect maybe more than any other, given my own track…
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April 22, 2026
Rosalind Elias — Rosalind
Rosalind Elias, an American mezzo-soprano, had a long, celebrated career at the Metropolitan Opera, and 'long' is the word I keep coming back to, because a career that sustained means decades of showing up, night after…