what's in a name...

pippin was not named in a frenzy of tolkienmania. pippin is actually a corruption of "pepin," a recurring name in the family tree of charlemagne. (unregenerate history nut here) i love names. i have a thing for names. i even "collect" unusual surnames: stonecipher, turnipseed, winterbottom, sneath, willgoose, mumby, thurlby. i'm also fond of surnames derived from occupations, particularly not-so-obvious ones: fletcher, cooper, cartwright, wainwright. my first name (not quite ready to disclose it yet!) was very unusual when i was a child back in the 50's and 60's. i loved it. it made me feel special. i was in college before i ever met another person with my name. so i had fun coming up with pippin's name.