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 18, 2026
Mia Hamm — Mia
I've driven through more small towns with a soccer field as the only lit-up thing at eight o'clock on a weeknight than I can count, and Mia Hamm's the reason half of them exist in the shape they do — two-time Olympic…
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April 18, 2026
Mia Wasikowska — Mia
Mia Wasikowska built her reputation on understated, versatile performances — 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Jane Eyre' being the two most people point to — and 'understated' is honestly the harder note to hit than the…
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April 17, 2026
Ella Baker — Ella
Ella Baker's whole story is basically a union organizer's story, even if nobody ever called her that specifically — she mentored generations of activists and helped found the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee,…
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April 17, 2026
Ella Fitzgerald — Ella
I grew up on classic rock and Sinatra myself, not really a jazz guy, but even I know you don't get called the 'First Lady of Song' without being about as good as it gets. Ella Fitzgerald had an extraordinary range and…
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April 17, 2026
Ella Henderson — Ella
Every coach knows the story of the rookie who gets discovered on a big stage and then actually has the game to back it up long-term, and that's Ella Henderson's arc as far as I can tell — she got her first shot on The…
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April 16, 2026
Abigail Adams — Abigail
Abigail Adams was basically running the world's most consequential group chat centuries before group chats existed — her letters to John Adams during the American Revolution were how she advised him and stayed…
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April 16, 2026
Abigail Breslin — Abigail
Abigail Breslin rose to fame in 'Little Miss Sunshine' as a child, earning an Oscar nomination at an age when most kids are still learning to tie their own shoes, and she's continued a varied career in film and…
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April 16, 2026
Abigail Van Buren — Abigail
Okay, 'Dear Abby' was basically the original advice subreddit, except with an actual editor, no anonymous trolls in the replies, and one person doing it consistently for almost fifty years straight. Abigail Van Buren…
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April 15, 2026
Eleanor Catton — Eleanor
I do a lot of my reading through audiobooks these days, hours and hours of it on long stretches of highway, and somewhere along the way I picked up a genuine soft spot for anybody who wins something like the Booker…
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April 15, 2026
Eleanor of Aquitaine — Eleanor
I'll say up front, Eleanor of Aquitaine's story is about as far from my own life as a story could possibly get — Queen of France, then England, one of the most powerful women of the entire Middle Ages, patronizing…
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April 15, 2026
Eleanor Roosevelt — Eleanor
I'll confess my first instinct with a name like Roosevelt is genealogical delight — old American family, considerable standing, the sort of pedigree I could happily trace for an afternoon over tea. But Eleanor…
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April 14, 2026
Zoe Ball — Zoe
Radio's been my main company on the road for over two decades, so a story like Zoe Ball's actually lands close to home for me — she's a British radio and television presenter, and the first woman ever to host BBC…