By Any Other Name

This blog entry is brought to you by the reappearance of the name "Logan" in my pop cultural diet.

My love/hate relationship with the name "Logan" began in my formative years, when The Babysitters' Club was considered high-brow literature. Logan Bruno was Maryanne Spier's boyfriend, he of the Kentucky drawl and gentlemanly ways. Gentlemanly for a 13-year-old, at least. He was more of a tertiary character in the scheme of things-- an alternate member of the Club, though he rarely made appearances in the girls' various misadventures. Still, he was the dreamiest literary love interest an 8-year-old girl could swoon over.

Long after the BSC canon became but a footnote in my literary history, the name was all but forgotten. Until my college years. In rapid succession, three choice Logans entered my life.

First, Gilmore Girls' Rory forsook the glorious memory of Jess Mariano (I could write blog upon blog about Jess Mariano, but I'm not 17 anymore, so I won't) and took up with Logan Huntzberger, sharp of wit and fat of wallet (pictured bottom left, with Logan Echolls). I scowled disapprovingly until the episode where the Life & Death Brigade spoke only using words without the letter "E," and then begrudgingly admitted that this Logan was even more charming than Maryanne's Logan of my youth.

Next, I finally got around to watching the X-Men movies. They're good; Wolverine is great. And named Logan, of course. Through three films, Hugh Jackman (left) added rippling abdominals and a real sense of badassery to the name, and is poised to up its street cred considerably once the Wolverine movie hits theaters in '09.

Finally, the most recent addition to my catalogue of Logans: Veronica Mars' Logan Echolls (pictured bottom right, with Logan Huntzberger). I'm forcing the series onto my roommate (I'm like a meth dealer with this show-- this is the third friend and counting that I've gotten hooked) and as we plow through the early episodes, I'm reminded of how heart-wrenching and nuanced this Logan can be. And we're not even to the good stuff yet. The “obligatory psychotic jackass” really does his name justice.

It's one of those names I've always wrinkled my nose at disdainfully. Henry, Walter, Bartholomew, Logan. But really, with a Huntzberger, a Bruno, an Echolls and a Wolverine following the name, it can't help but grow on me. I won't be naming any children Logan, but the better its connotations get in my mind, who knows. Maybe a goldfish.