Find Your NPR Name Game

[Spot's Meow]

Okay, so I'm sure all you NPR listeners out there have taken note of the absurd names that the hosts often have. I swear it's written into the job description. So I saw posted on another site a link to the "Your NPR Name" game, which allows you to find out what you should put on your job application if you're looking to be hired by them.

Here’s how it works: You take your middle initial and insert it somewhere into your first name. Then you add on the smallest foreign town you’ve ever visited.

My NPR name becomes Michlelle Cabo San Lucas. Sounds about right. Other examples I've seen are much better. What is your NPR name?

 

[cardinal biggles]

I can't find a good place to put an L in the middle of "James". And I'm ashamed to say I've never traveled out of the United States. So much for my future career at NPR.

 

[Spot's Meow]

^How about Jalmes (pronounced J-all-ms, or even better Jahl-mez)

 

[cardinal biggles]

Yeah, that could work.

 

[1001001]

That is so funny. I have often thought about the names of people reporting on NPR while listening.

I wouldn't say their names are absurd, but certainly unusual. It's a very international staff. Lots of hyphens!

Ofeibea Quist-Arcton
Dina Temple-Raston
Soraya Sarhaddi-Nelson
Karen Grigsby-Bates
Barbara Bradley-Haggarty
Lourdes Garcia-Navarro

Anyway, my name doesn't really lend itself to the game. I would probably apply with my first initial, then full middle and last name. That makes me sound more important...

 

[the G-man]

Really? All the host names that I can think of seem pretty pedestrian to me: Robert Siegel, Michelle Norris, Noah Adams, Terry Gross, Scott Simon, Tom and Ray Magliozzi, Peter Sagel, Diane Rehm, Marian McPartland...heck, even Garrison Keillor seems pretty "normal" compared to the formula in that link.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Well, yeah, not everybody at NPR is going to have an exotic-sounding name. But they do seem to have a higher percentage of them than the commercial news outfits. CNN's Christiane Amanpour is the only one I can think of off the top of my head, though I'm sure there's others.

 

[the G-man]

Fair enough. But the premise of the game, as cited by OP is that you practically need to have an exotic name to host an NPR show, not that they merely have a higher percentage of exotic names than the other news outlets.

And, come on, is there any name in news more exotic than CNN's Wolf Blitzer? The dude sounds like he should be a character in a sword and sorcery movie.

 

[Nerys Myk]

My name is practically an NPR name already, thanks to Michelle Norris.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

For MSNBC, if you're older, replace your first name with Chris or Alex, male or female. If you're young make up a nonsense name like Touré, S E Cupp or Krystal Ball.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Here’s how it works: You take your middle initial and insert it somewhere into your first name. Then you add on the smallest foreign town you’ve ever visited.

Britan Playa del Carmen.

Sounds like a damn golf course.

 

[Winged Victory]

Fun game! I came up with this gem: Lisma Todi!

(Todi is a very small town in Umbria, Italy that I had the great fortune to visit.)

 

[Nerys Myk]

Michgael Misawa.

 

[Random_Spock]

Easther Stratford . That's NPR.

 

[Spot's Meow]

Michgael Misawa.

I think this is my favorite so far!

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

Alrex Wiltshire.

I feel like I should have sort of one syllable middle name between those two. So I give myself the middle name of "Ne."

Alrex Ne Wiltshire I am.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I have no idea what NPR is, but I'm always up for a game.

Pider Scalloway.

(Scalloway, Shetland)

 

[cardinal biggles]

^National Public Radio

 

[Spot's Meow]

I have no idea what NPR is, but I'm always up for a game.

Have you ever seen the Schweddy Balls skit on SNL? That's a close approximation. It's public radio, notoriously popular among white liberal yuppies. And I say that as lovingly as possible.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Thanks.