Austan Goolsbee, old friend and trusted adviser to Barack Obama, has been appointed to something or other.

I'm not interested in what he was appointed to, except that I think 1) at 41, he's too young because 2) he's part of a pack of the well-degreed but not necessarily well-educated, and his wife or girlfriend is in the same general foundation-and-right-universities galere, and this makes me suspicious -- or am I confusing Austan Goolsbee with Michael Kinsley? It's so hard to keep these people apart.

But one good thing about Austan Goolsbee is his name. He has a real name, a name that is not merely Mick or Mack or Bob or Jim or Jack. Both parts are good. First there's the Austan. Then there's the Goolsbee. Put them together and what have you got? nAustan Goolsbee.Bibbity-bobbity boo.

Why do we like Sir Kenelm Digby? Because of his name. You knew that.

Why do we like, despite lingering reservations about the pastelly effect, Coventry Patmore? His name.

For god's sake, what's in a name? In many cases, practically everything.