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Today, he breaks down thesemifinal matchups.
(If this is all gibberish to you, read about the NOTY fieldhere.)
This is a hell of a thing to wake up to,Amerika tweeted.
Encountering amazing names was a hell of a thing whenName of the Yearstarted in a college dorm in 1983.
The Apple Macintosh didnt even exist, let alone Google.
Someone suggested picking a winner, so we drank some beer and did.
But those fine names were eliminated in early rounds of voting and were down to the Final Four.
In one semifinal, itsKansas carjackerMathdaniel Squirrelversusearly-aughts Northeastern Oklahoma A&M quarterbackKokain Mothershed; they vanquishedBritish maths professorDr.
Reason MacheteandIllinois educatorRod McQualityin the quarterfinals.
In the other matchup, itsformer Marist cornerbackCourvoisier Dingleagainst the aforementioned Beanbag Amerika.
Their prior victims:Harvard biochemistDr.
Welcome BenderandLSU football commitDecoldest Crawford.
Honestly, any of these eight would be a worthy champion.it’s possible for you to vote here.
Every name holds a story.
is that my parents were hippies.
I dont think he had the winning bid, but the name stuck for a while.
Thats where the last name came from.
What was that name and why did you give it up?I tend not to tell people.
Its not a secret, exactly.
Ive had friends who pushed and figured it out, and friends whove said they dont want to know.
My dads family is Jewish, and as is traditional, I was named after dead relatives.
It was the commonality of it that made me give it up.
And Beanbag Amerika is your legal name now.Right.
My parents had mostly stopped using Beanbag by the time I was 5 or so.
As I distanced myself from my name in high school, I started thinking about changing it.
Most of the contenders were inspired by Greek mythology, high fantasy novels, D&D.
These gave me the opportunity to try out new names.
I fell into variations of Bean-Bag, Beanbag, Bean, Rev.Bean.
When I was 20, I decided to have it legally changed.
What has being Beanbag Amerika taught you about social conventions surrounding names?
I found that most responses ranged from slightly bemused to entirely unfazed.
A lot of people assume that its a business, rather than personal, name.
I am quite shy and socially anxious.
We all, especially those who deal with the public, should be cognizant of that.
I do suspect that my name has acted as a detriment when applying for jobs.
The hippie parents line is enough for most people.
In my day-to-day life I mostly go by Bean which is unusual, but not outlandish.
If I were doing it over again, I might do it a little differently?
We dont always make the best long-term decisions at 20 years old.
Beanbag Amerika is a fantastic name for a childrens librarian or a superhero in a childrens book.
They call me Mr. Bean.
How did you find out you had made the Name of the Year field?Crossword Twitter alerted me.
It took me about half an hour of dumbfoundment before I figured out what was happening.
Youhave embracedyour Name of the Year moment.
Do you want to win the tournament?I would very much love to win.
It was thrilling towinthefirst fewroundsso decisively, and has been somewhat nerve-racking as things havetightened up.
Its been a bit of a microcosm of how I feel about my name overall.
On one hand, I love the attention.
On the other, it creates a lot of anxiety.
Youre up against another fantastic name, Courvoisier Dingle, in the Final Four.
Why should people vote for you?Courvoisier Dingle is the Cinderella story of this tournament.
