Corporate Kids

The corporate brand-naming game has only just begun (“In the Name of Profits,” editorial, April 20). We may soon see a city hall renamed “Burger King Hall.” We may arrange to meet one another at the corner of Froot Loops Avenue and Eastman Kodak Road. The real breakthrough will come when cash-strapped families accept payment to name their children after corporate donors. After all, there is a tradition of naming children after a rich relative in the hope of being remembered in the will; why not get the cash now?

Philip Morris Johnson is obvious, but how about Verizon Jones? Or Safeway Smith? Cingular Wireless Adams? Then there’s Lucky Strike Donahue, Ebay Harris, Nabisco Schultz. The possibilities are endless. So, apparently, is what the public is willing to tolerate.

Eleanor Egan

Costa Mesa