LARRY

Figure 1. Name Track For LTL Immediate Family

I have started a new vein of research into my lawsuit with Hollywood. You can go to the Social Security website and lookup the rankings of registered baby names for the past 125 years. I used the website to provide the ranking of "Larry" as a baby name for the past 125 years. The plot revealed some interesting facts about the popularity of the name LARRY.

1) Just as I have been preaching to you guys over the past 10 years, something happenend in the late 70s/early eighties that really damaged the name LARRY. I searched IMDB.com for all characters names LARRY. I was surprised at the response. Hundres of characters named LARRY. But, if you look a little deeper, no hero is names LARRY. LARRY is the name for the goofy guy next door, or the shoe salesman, or the dim witted cop. I don't think the 3's company is totally to blame for the downfall of LARRY. I haven't quite found my missing link, YET.

I decided to search IMDB.com for plots that include the name LARRY. To my surprise, I found a few titles with leading characters (notice i didn't use the moniker hero) named LARRY. Here are a few of my favorites

"Trouble with Larry, The" (1993)During his honeymoon, the irrepressible Larry Burton is dragged off into the jungle by a large-sized male baboon and is presumed dead - eaten by apes. However, defying all odds, Larry survives and, after many comic-strip-type adventures, returns home to re-establish himself as head of the household - little realising that his wife, Sally, has married the staid and conservative Boyd Flatt during the intervening ten years, and that she is now the mother of a bright and lively nine year old daughter. Larry's return home causes considerable upheaval and consternation for the family - not least being his subsequent attempts to woo a reluctant Gabriella, his former sister-in-law, who had taken a distinct dislike to him prior to his disappearance and is still definitely opposed to the idea of getting to know Larry on a more intimate basis
(Not exactly the hero story)

Aerobic Man (2000)Larry Snorkendorf, a uncoordinated nerd boy, walked into an aerobics class changing his life forever. While at the gym he confronts Cindy the evil aerobics instructor and vows to defeat her. Sandy trains Larry while Igor eats Funnyons. Eventually Larry becomes the mighty Aerobic Man and
(I shall now and forever be know as "Mighty Aerobic Man")

Personal Hygiene for Boys (1952)Larry, a popular young boy, is looked up to and admired by his friends. it turns out that the reason he is so popular is because of his personal hygiene habits. He constantly washes his hair, cleans between his toes, lines public toilet seats with paper, and has other somewhat disturbing obsessions. As the narrator says, Larry's squeaky-clean hygiene habits "are
(Maybe this was the LARRY downfall)

Life of Larry, The (1995). The story deals with a slob named Larry and his companion, the talking dog, Steve. Larry worries that distance is forming between himself and his son Milt, so together with Steve, he looks for a way to bond with the boy. The short is full of flashbacks, and scenes which would eventually end up in episodes of MacFarlane's breakout series, "Family Guy". It also allowed for MacFarlane's first break into the industry. The short won a student film award from Hanna-Barbera who eventually hired MacFarlane. It paved the way for his first televised animated short "Larry and Steve" for Hanna-Barbera which
(I actually want to see this one. If its by the creator of "The Family Guy" its gotta put LARRY in the right)

2) Almost as interesting is what caused LARRY to launch from a 300 ranking in the early 20's to a top 10 name in the 50's. More research is required. Who was the LARRY that inspired a generation of popularity. Who is this LARRY and what happened to him?

3) The name track appear to be cyclical. I guess parents don't want to name their kids after themselves, less the legion of Jr.'s in the world (like Phil), but grandparents names are valid. Amanda's name fell from grace and then rebounded with a vengence. I think I need to calculate the rate of change in the name rakings to see if any other names rise and fall within as short amount of time as LARRY. James, if you could get your class to perform a regression analysis, I would really appreciate it. I could fit an autoregressive moving average (ARMA) model to the name track to predict the future trend (Another project for your class James). Clearly more analysis is required, and I probably need to increase the sample population of names included in the analysis.

4) Other interesting name tracks:
Dorothy - Very popular in the early century, no where to be found today
Many of the names that are currently in the top ten jumped in popularity between the 40s and 50s. I attribute this to WWII.

In conclusion
I am still trying to figure out why LARRY has become the name of choice in commercials for "the IT guy that doesn't understand that Dell is best" or "the Christmas elf that buys all the worng stuff for Christmas" or "the goofy cucumber cartoon character". I'm tired of it. I challenge anyone to find a name that is picked on more that LARRY. I and the rest of the LARRYs of the world have to fight the Hollywood stereotype of the geeky, dorky, low self-esteem sidekick. I am sure there is a book in Hollywood that has suggested character names for specific roles. I am on a quest to find this book. LARRY will be a hero's name someday. My analysis has just begun.