A Good Name: Roland

There is something really wonderful about the name Roland. It just has this sound to it that is pleasing. It just rolls off your tongue. In fact, the name Roland sounds like the phrase "rolls off your tongue." That's how well it rolls off your tongue.

Where did the name Roland come from? Well, last year Amy and I saw Tears for Fears live on the other side of the state. They were fantastic. One of the best performances I have ever seen. They're perfectly happy with Everybody Loves a Happy Ending being their last album and they've been touring for it for seven years now. There are two members of Tears for Fears that you need to know, Curt Smith and Roland Orzabel.

Roland played confidently, and though he had long flowing hair, sang in falsetto and swayed like a female back-up singer in a Motown band, he overflowed with strength and masculinity. There was a kind of confidence in this guy, and for some reason that confidence is forever tied to the name Roland. Amy and I also happen to adore Stephen King, though she knows much more than I do, and possibly one of his most important characters, the one that is at the center of the Dark Tower series, which is at the center of King's entire corpus, is Roland Deschain, the gunslinger.

While Roland would be the perfect name for a child, I think it might also fit for a pet dog. And what kind of dog would look better beside a gunslinger than a really fantastic looking German shepherd. (I may have promoted this breed of dog before, and I apologize for repeating, but they're really awesome dogs. They look like they still have the chops of a wolf, after all.)

And finally, to complement Roland Orzabel's interest in his Spanish history as heard in such albums as Raoul and the Kings of Spain, Roland might be a good name for an animal that you'll find in many Spanish speaking countries in South and Central America, the beloved iguana.