For our season finale, Warriors reporter Kerith Burke sends us on a quest to find people who share her name. Pit stops include: a prolific novelist, an encounter with Oprah, and a complicated relationship with people named Keith. You can find more of Kerith Burke's work on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky @KerithBurke. You can find us on Instagram @namedroppingpod or send us an email at namedropping@defector.com. Namedropping is hosted by Giri Nathan and Samer Kalaf, and produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman. Our editor is Justin Ellis, and our supervising producer is Alex Sujong Laughlin. Our production assistant is Jae Towle Vieira. Defector Media is a collectively owned, subscriber-based media company. If you love this podcast and want to support us, subscribe at defector.com.
For our season finale, Warriors reporter Kerith Burke sends us on a quest to find people who share her name. Pit stops include: a prolific novelist, an encounter with Oprah, and a complicated relationship with people named Keith. Episode transcript available here.
You can find more of Kerith Burke's work on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky @KerithBurke. You can find us on Instagram @namedroppingpod or send us an email at namedropping@defector.com.
Namedropping is hosted by Giri Nathan and Samer Kalaf, and produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman. Our editor is Justin Ellis, and our supervising producer is Alex Sujong Laughlin. Our production assistant is Jae Towle Vieira.
Defector Media is a collectively owned, subscriber-based media company. If you love this podcast and want to support us, subscribe at defector.com.
Kerith Burke: It's just not worth going through the rigmarole of can you repeat that? Or what did you say? Or was it Karen, is your name Karen? And sometimes I'm like, yes, it's Karen, whatever, just give me my food, please.
[intro music]
Giri Nathan: I'm Giri Nathan.
Samer Kalaf: And I'm Samer Kalaf.
Giri: And this is Namedropping
Samer: A show breaking the world record for most people named Kerith on a single podcast.
Giri: This episode is going to be a little different from our normal format.
Samer: We're going to start with an interview, like we usually do, with Kerith Burke.
Giri: Kerith is a sideline reporter covering the Golden State Warriors.
Samer: And we got in touch with her because of a sentence in her Twitter bio.
Ozzy Llinas Goodman: "If you meet another Kerith, let me know."
Samer: As competitive podcasters, we took that as a challenge.
Giri: One last job to close out our second season.
Samer: So we set out to find the perfect Kerith.
Giri: But first we needed to find out exactly what Kerith Burke was looking for.
[music fades]
Kerith Burke: Hi, everybody.
Giri: Hey, how's it going, Kerith?
Kerith Burke: Really good. It's nice to connect with you guys.
Giri: Yeah, thanks for taking the time. So why is it that you want to meet another Kerith?
Kerith Burke: I would love to meet another Kerith because I think we are few and far between. Now the internet and Google searches has indicated for me that there are more Keriths out there. But to meet one in person would feel special. I guess it's maybe that jealousy I've had since I was a kid of not having another classmate named Kerith. Maybe there were five Ashleys in class or four Davids. I just want to know what that feels like. I want to be in the company of another Kerith.
Samer: To focus on you specifically, have your parents told you anything about why they named you Kerith?
Kerith Burke: Yes. Okay. It's from a book called The Source by James Michener. My mom loves to read. So she got her inspiration from this book, The Source, and my father's side is Irish. They wanted something that sounded Irish, so they were going to name me Kerith but call me Keri. As a toddler, I insisted: "My name is Kerith!" And that was it, like, no nicknames, no nothing. And that insistence kind of set me up for years and years of pain during substitute teacher day or years of repetition, or years of spelling my name. I really didn't like my name growing up. Now it's, now it's fine. Yeah.
Samer: Nice
Giri: It's interesting, you had probably the opposite impulse of most kids who want to stick with the nickname. And like, kind of shove their full name under the bed.
Kerith Burke: Yeah, well, this is what stubbornness gets you.
Samer: I guess, what kind of things would you want to know most from another Kerith?
Kerith Burke: I would like to know if our experience has been quintessential. Are all of my memories of not having like a little personalized Huffy bike license plate that says Kerith—'kay, those didn't exist. Did they feel the same way of being left out? Or I don't know, just the really silly things from childhood. Did they have the same experience on substitute teacher day? Did they have the same angst about not liking their name? So just, just common ground, just to see.
Giri: So what would you say is your favorite part of being named Kerith?
Kerith Burke: The part that I used to hate is now the part that I embrace. Often—I know there are more Keriths out there, but we're so few and far between in my daily life, I feel like one of one. A very recognizable name. I know that that helps in my career, once people figured out how to pronounce it. Because really, guys, they look at it at first and they see Keith, it's like what's so hard about the letter R? I don't know. But autocorrect hates me. And once they're like, oh, it's Kerith. Oh, okay, and that's what she does for work, being a Warriors reporter. It feels really great to have my wagon hitched to an amazing team. So I think that just broadens how many people know of my work. It's really flattering. And then yeah, this name Kerith, okay, if you hear it enough, it becomes normal.
Samer: Mmhmm. Do you have any memorable experiences on the job with people I guess meeting you for the first time or reacting to your name?
Kerith Burke: I can do that thing where I can absolutely tell when I introduce myself, they have no idea what I just said. And they don't want me to repeat it. They'll be like, oh okay, nice to meet you. And then I think later they'll ask somebody like, What the hell was her name? I don't know, like, guys, do you do this? If I call to order delivery or something, I will either make up a name or I'll call myself Keri, it's just not worth going through the rigmarole of can you repeat that or what did you say? Or was it Karen, is your name Karen? And sometimes I'm like, yes, it's Karen, whatever, just give me my food, please. I'll never see you again in my life. So there's always that kind of calculus of like, what kind of interaction do I really want to have here?
Giri: I was trying to think of what Warrior would have the most similar ish name, but the most I could come up with is Steve Kerr's last name, which you guys at least share a syllable kind of.
Kerith Burke: Yeah, I used to pronounce his name like I was saying Kerith. So I was like Steve Kerr. He was like, no, dummy, it's Kerr. It's Kerr. Yeah, that took me a little while, when I first got started, to get used to that.
Samer: Were there any specific times where your name helped or hampered your job in any way?
Kerith Burke: That's a really thoughtful question. You know, I guess when I was starting out, and I was, I had all this ambition about what I hoped my career would be, I considered a name change, because it was frustrating to me to have, to clearly introduce myself to people and have them not remember. I mean, I really want to be a memorable person, that's important for networking. Or just confuse viewers on TV, like, what on earth did she say? It was just a hassle. You know, again, if I was stubborn when I was growing up, I'm looking for the shortcut now that I'm older. So yeah, I had this moment of should I just go by my middle name? Should I just make up a stage name altogether? But this is who I am. And this is what my parents named me. And I just, I guess I just felt maybe I'll stay true to that. And whatever I'm labeling hardship with having a unique name is really stupid. It's not hard, just you might have to go through a few patterns every now and then. But really, it's not a problem in the grand scheme of things. And now I think I like the memorability of a, of a unique name. It's not that difficult. I hope, guys, it's Kerith. Once you hear it a few times, you're like, oh okay, I got it. And then I hope it sticks in people's names. I hope it sticks in people's minds, that is. Yeah, it's been okay.
Giri: While you were in that brief phase of considering a name change for your career, did you ever like have any candidates lined up? Or was it just more speculative at that point?
Kerith Burke: Just middle name, probably. And I would have run it by my mom. She wanted to name me Brooke, that was something also going through her mind. But then she said Brooke Burke, Brooke Burke, buk buk, buk buk, buk buk. She's like, I can't, you'd sound like a chicken. So instead, she went with Kerith. Okay.
Samer: That is interesting, though, because when you're talking about in the career of reporting and being on TV and being an analyst, I feel like there are, there's a lot of consideration into like, simplifying your name or like making it as TV friendly as possible. I'm sure like, that's all over that industry and the entertainment industry.
Kerith Burke: Yeah. Memorability slash uniqueness, if you could find that sweet spot. I even like, some people add in an initial, Stephen A. Smith. Stephen Smith, who's that? Stephen A. Smith, that's right!
Samer: Yeah, gives you an extra syllable to like linger on
Kerith Burke: Yeah, adds some punctuation in there.
Giri: The rhythm is very important, I feel like, for TV and radio.
Kerith Burke: Yeah, I think so too. I suppose for hiring, if somebody was expecting a phone call with a Keith, because they looked at my name quickly. And then they hear my voice on the line. There is that moment of confusion like, oh, you're, you are not who I expected. Like, well, let me tell you about myself. Let's see where this goes.
Giri: What about, so we're talking about your professional life, what about in your social life? Do you, did you ever feel that it became an obstacle? I know we talked about kind of early childhood and like in the classroom, but what about later as you were an adult?
Kerith Burke: When I was an adult, and I was searching for the love of my life, and I was thinking about getting on the apps, I thought, shoot, Kerith is such a—it's such an easy name to Google. I didn't want like, you know, the first date rundown of somebody who googled my name and was like, Okay, I know X, Y, and Z about you. I know everything about you already. I wanted that discovery period. So when I got on the apps, Tinder, I made a, it's connected to your Facebook. So I made a, I guess you call it a fake Facebook profile. I just went on there as Kay, K A Y. Uploaded three photos. Like it truly was me. I just wanted the peace of meeting somebody who didn't know everything about me already. I had a first date with this amazing guy. And then I had that moment of shoot, I should really tell him beforehand what my first name is. Like I should walk in honestly, even though I've started dishonestly, I suppose. So I messaged him about 20 minutes before our date like, Hey, don't worry, I'm still coming. I just want you to know my real name is Kerith. And he said, that's really weird. I don't know why you did that. But he agreed to meet with me. We had a four hour first date, and this guy ended up to be my husband.
Samer: Wow, that's wonderful.
Giri: I'm thinking of like an alternate timeline where it's going great. You keep going on dates, but you haven't done the name reveal yet. And like how deep into this life changing relationship? Could you, could you still be Kay?
Kerith Burke: He still calls me Kay. It's Kay. Yeah. He's the only person in the world, though
Giri: It's actually listening to this pod that is going to change everything for him
Kerith Burke: How long do you keep it going? Yeah, it is weird territory to start with, like, here's me, but not entirely me. And here's why. And thankfully, it all worked out in the end
Samer: Nice.
Giri: Have you had one of those moments where, I feel like this was more in the day, like peak Facebook era, where people—I've been thrown randomly onto like a group message with like a bunch of other Giris. I wonder if like the Internet has facilitated any, like, Kerith communities for you so far.
Kerith Burke: I tried to take the initiative on that. And then I found some Keriths who were in high school and I felt very weird messaging them. But every now and then another Kerith reaches out to me. Or somebody says, I have a friend named Kerith. So we're getting into like a few degrees of Kerith Bacon here. Like I know this one, if you're going here. You know, maybe we can connect you guys. And I've also discovered there is a Kerith, the golden retriever who is a service dog, a comfort dog. And back when California had the terrible wildfire season, I think it was in 2020, this dog would be there for the firefighters, the EMTs and Kerith the Golden Retriever like made the rounds on NBC Nightly News, USA Today, Good Morning America. So, so many people—I had like a tally at one point, it was more than 100 people—sent me this dog's Instagram, or like stories of this dog. The dog happens to live across the bridge. Okay, so I'm in the Bay Area. This dog lives in Marin County. I message the owner who graciously said yeah, let's do a meet up. It was the highlight of COVID for me like meeting on a trail, petting this dog, feeling so happy. So, a shout out to Kerith the Golden Retriever. But I've never met another person named Kerith.
Giri: Okay. How do you feel about pets getting human names? Or traditionally human names, I should say. Do you think there's a line between a human name and a pet name? Or should there be?
Kerith Burke: No, I love it. If I can get a neighbor calling like "Steve! Get back here, get back in the house!" I absolutely love it or Bruce or something like that. No, I'm a fan of that. I actually prefer, I kind of prefer human names for animals over like that trend of naming a dog Waffles or Sandwiches something like that. I would choose human name over food, although I think that they're both cute.
Samer: I think I fall somewhat closer to you, where I'm okay with basically any name for an animal as long as as long as it's respectful. I think that that's all I had.
Giri: Yeah, I think for our preliminary—
Samer: Yeah, we wanted to do the preliminary
Giri: —study, I think that's that's pretty much all we've got.
Kerith Burke: Oh, is there a part two, gentlemen?
Giri: We're gonna go looking for some Keriths, in the meantime, yeah.
Kerith Burke: Okay.
Samer: So I guess, yeah. If you want, so we have it just like in one answer maybe, if you wanted to tell us all the attributes I guess you're looking for in a Kerith, like what would be important to you?
Kerith Burke: Okay, if I were back on the dating apps, looking for another Kerith... I mean, to me, my framework for this name is just it's it's feminine. But there are male Keriths, and some of them pronounce their name Kerath or Kerith. For me it's Kerith. So I would just love to hear the stories of other Keriths or Keriths. And how did their families arrive with this name? And what on earth does it mean? Because I really haven't been able to pin it down, I suppose. I hope there's a commonality and a good humor about our name, and maybe what it's meant to us growing up. Although it sounds like I have more aches than other Kerith, but you tell me
Giri: Hey, we don't know that yet. Yeah, that'll be part of our search
Kerith Burke: Any Kerith will do truly. In this day and age I would be more than happy to meet a girl Kerith, a boy Kerith, a nonbinary Kerith, just anyone who maybe shares the same experiences. What was it like growing up for them? How do they feel about their name now? And should we really do better networking? Like can we be a force for good together?
Giri: The Kerith bloc, more solidarity among Keriths. Okay.
Kerith Burke: Yes, I think so. That'd be great.
Samer: I feel like this has been a running theme in the podcast where we interview someone about their name and they decide to go to the path of unionizing everybody with their name
Kerith Burke: Stronger together, unions forever, yeah
Samer: Yeah, Kerith Local 407
[music]
Giri: What do you think the collective noun for Keriths should be?
Kerith Burke: You mean like a murder of crows? Like what would a Kerith be?
Giri: Yeah, exactly.
Kerith Burke: A stumble of Keriths, maybe.
Giri: I like that. I like that.
Samer: That's a good one
Giri: That'd be a great episode title, too
[music/ad break]
Samer: Welcome back to Namedropping.
Giri: This is part two of our season finale and our quest for Kerith. When we got off the phone with Kerith Burke, it was time to start our search for a second Kerith.
Samer: We sent our producer Ozzy to scour the internet for as many Keriths as possible.
Ozzy Llinas Goodman: Yeah, so I found a bunch of different Keriths online. And I ended up emailing 10 of them, mostly people who do some kind of work that involves thinking about names or language. So like a commercial director, a communications professor, and actually another sports reporter named Kerith were all at the top of my list.
Samer: The original plan was to find one perfect Kerith, the best of all the candidates.
Giri: But once we actually started interviewing candidates, we realized there was one big thing they all had in common.
Ozzy: So remember, when we asked Kerith Burke:
Samer: Have your parents told you anything about why they named you Kerith?
Kerith Burke: Yes. Okay. It's from a book called The Source by James Michener.
Ozzy: Well, it turns out she's not the only one whose parents read that book.
Kerith Woodyard: My mother had encountered the name Kerith when she was reading a James Michener novel called The Source.
Kerith Overstreet: The only story I have is that it comes from a James Michener novel The Source, and it's a pretty minor character.
Kerith Lemon: I'm named after the character in the James Michener novel, The Source, as I think a lot of Keriths are.
Ozzy: James Michener grew up in Pennsylvania, but even a Kerith as far away as Australia told me that her name comes from this book. Our original Kerith, Kerith Burke, had asked us about the meaning of the name, but the character really meant something different to everyone. Like for one Kerith's mom:
Kerith Woodyard: I don't think it was anything about the character or the character traits or anything associated with the character in the book, but she found the name pretty and she just sort of stuck with her.
Ozzy: But for another Kerith:
Kerith Lemon: My mum really loved that character, herself. Like all of her attributes, being strong willed and independent and kind of taking life into her own hands.
Ozzy: I looked into this a bit, and this book, The Source, came out in 1965. I couldn't really find anything that I would call a reliable source for this, but according to a few baby name bloggers out there, the name's popularity peaked in 1968, when just 20 girls were named Kerith
Samer: Kerith Lemon, whose mom really liked the James Michener character had read The Source.
Giri: So we were excited to hear her ode to the original Kerith
Kerith Lemon: She was married to this engineer who was commissioned by the king to build this escape tunnel outside of the city walls. And he was like so enamored with having been hired by the king. He was very obsessed with his work that he absolutely neglected his wife, and she just like would not stand for it. And so she ran off with a musician, like she took life into her own hands and ran off with a musician. So let you guys form your own opinions because my dad was an engineer who worked a lot at the time that I was born, but we stuck with the very strong-willed independent woman.
Ozzy: We also discovered that Kerith Burke herself is kind of like a celebrity in the Kerith world.
Kerith Overstreet: The sideline reporter for the basketball team here. She's a Kerith.
Kerith Woodyard: Once or twice someone has told me that they've met another Kerith. And I've been somewhat skeptical but also amazed because I just I've never encountered one, you know, but I had there was someone on Twitter. I think her name is Kerith Burke.
Kerith Lemon: My family's from the Bay Area and that's where she is on television. And my parents are enormous Warriors fans. So they like as soon as she started being on air, they would like message me all the time. There's another Kerith and we see her all the time
Ozzy: I emailed with one Kerith, who lives in New York City, and she remembered seeing Kerith Burke on TV back when she worked for a local New York sports channel. She said she was so not used to being one of multiple Keriths that she made her husband change the channel because it was freaking her out.
Giri: Well, clearly, Keriths are rare. And all the Keriths we met had similar experiences with the name so we started to feel like we couldn't just pick one.
Samer: Our new plan was to unite as many Keriths as possible so they could figure out what else they had in common.
Ozzy: I compared all of our schedules and we were able to get three Keriths together on a zoom call to discuss further.
Kerith Burke: Hi Keriths!
Kerith Woodyard: Hi Kerith Burke!
Kerith Lemon: Hi!
Kerith Woodyard: Hi Kerith Lemon!
Kerith Lemon: Nice to meet you!
Kerith Woodyard: Nice to meet you.
Kerith Burke: Nice to meet you too.
Kerith Lemon: When I got your email initially, it was probably the most fun cold email I’ve ever read in my whole life.
Kerith Woodyard: I mean, I knew there were other Keriths out there but I felt that it was rare enough that it just wouldn't be very likely that someone could meet two Keriths in a lifetime. It just doesn't sound possible.
Kerith Lemon: it just conjures up these images of like that we can't ever be in the same like vicinity like molecules that bounce off each other. Suddenly we get something magical
Kerith Burke: There's something in the universe physically preventing us all from meeting, we can only do it, we can only do it online
Giri: and even that only a maximum of three Keriths.
Kerith Woodyward: Yeah. That's all that can fit.
Giri: Now that we had finally connected the Keriths they realized they had way more in common than the source of their name.
Kerith Woodyard: Something that started in my childhood and persists today as often people will misread the name quickly as Keith. I have either been called Keith on a regular basis, when at doctor's office or something
Kerith Lemon: Oh yes. Every day. I even get it like just by people like that have known me a long time or we've been having an email chain back and forth and suddenly like I don't know if it's autocorrect or something, it just reverts to Keith and then I'll get the follow up email, I'm so sorry!
Samer: For one Kerith we talked to, the problem went way beyond an email typo.
Kerith Overstreet: So when I was really small, I went away to overnight camp, and I ended up in the boys cabin and I was in tears because they thought I was a Keith. You know, had I been like 16, I probably would have been like woohoo! But um, back when I was really little, you know, when I was a preteen I was devastated till obviously they sorted things out.
Samer: Kerith Overstreet couldn't make it to the gathering of the Keriths, but we talked to her one on one about her feelings with the name.
Kerith Overstreet: Well, when I was really little, it was obviously disappointing. Because when you go on trips and you want to buy a magnet with your name with a rainbow, there's never a Kerith
Giri: Those feelings about personalized souvenirs were a big theme that Kerith Burke wanted to discuss with the other Keriths.
Kerith Burke: I was going through old pictures the other day and I, you know those little souvenir license plates the kind that go on the back of your Huffy bike when you're a kid? I saw one of those and I'm tempted I actually have a mug with Keith on it just for the joke. That felt I felt like there were so many customizable things that other kids had like lunchboxes and that sort of thing. So just a small torment. I don't know if, like did you guys feel that either?
Kerith Woodyard: Yeah, yeah, when I was a kid and then a gift shop where they have whatever it was keychains or buttons, whatever it was, toothbrushes, I would I would still like you know rotate the rack around and look, even though I knew it wasn't going to be there I just would sort of look at it thinking this is an injustice somehow.
Kerith Lemon: Would absolutely always look and it would never be there it feels like because I switched between Keri and Kerith for a long time, sometimes I'd get lucky with Keri but I just have a very vivid memory of being in a gift shop in Hawaii looking for it and not finding either one.
Samer: They bonded over different parts of their name that people have trouble with.
Kerith Burke: What do you do about the T H at the end of your name? Like because I'm if I feel like I'm emphasizing it that doesn't sound right, but people don't quite hear it all the time. What do you do?
Kerith Lemon: I usually say it's Keri with a TH on the end
Kerith Woodyard: Yeah, that's exactly what I said, it's Keri with a TH, because usually people pick up that I've said something, you know, different at the end and so they say Kar—what'd you say, Karen? Keri? And I say no. So I will say Keri with a TH
Kerith Burke: Keri with a TH…. We should make T-shirts!
Kerith Lemon: I went through a phase where I thought of maybe making the R in my name like uppercase, just in the middle of the name, because so many—that was like my early New York working days, I would get so many emails to Keith
Kerith Burke: No, Kerith Lemon, I thought about doing the same thing! Or adding a second R to my name. So it really be, so you could not blow past it, like there's two of them, you have to acknowledge the R in there
Kerith Woodyard: Sometimes—I've never considered changing my first name. But sometimes admittedly, for convenience, I, like if I'm at a coffee shop or something like that. I'll just give my middle name Megan, although I've started resisting that the last couple of years that I'm like, we're going to spell it out, we're going to take the time and do it. So, but then one thing that sort of takes me aback, which it really shouldn't, and when I have used my middle name is that invariably there'll be another Megan. And then it's like, oh, is this whose coffee does this belong to? That's Megan or that Megan. And I think, oh, this wouldn't happen if I used my first name. But for the most part, I, it's only in those sorts of situations where I'm leaving a name, you know, for a table or getting a coffee, something like that, where I've sometimes just use my middle name, or maybe the name of whoever I'm with, if it's a simpler name.
Kerith Burke: I'll do the same. It's a time saving decision. If I'm placing an order for takeout, I will make up a name. At Starbucks, I'm Lola, if I'm bowling, I'm Lola, you know, like, just really easy. And really, I did have a moment where just as my career was getting started where I thought, I don't like my name, nobody can pronounce it, it autocorrects to Keith, should I just pick a new one? Should I be that person on TV with a fake name? And I, I really thought hard about it for about a week. But then I thought, this is what my family named me. It was almost something that I wanted to live up to, I actually didn't want to disappoint my mother. And I feel proud of it now, actually. I really like being a Kerith, which is a definitely a a 180 or a 360, or something that I had to make. I feel like I had to grow into this name. I didn't like my name growing up, hated it, in fact, but now I think it's something memorable, which any sort of leg up you can have in reporting is really worthwhile. So I like it. I like it now, but it took me a very long time. How about you?
Kerith Lemon: Um, I feel like—well, I was really told the story from The Source like my whole life. So in addition to like, sort of the origin of the name and what that name actually meant, but what that—I was named really after the character because of her strong willed nature. So like, having been told the story that like, I just feel like I was empowered from a very young age to like, forge my own path, because I had this like namesake almost.
Giri: That last Kerith, Kerith Lemon, had a story about how her name helped her do just that, back when she worked at the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Kerith Lemon: And I had to pitch a show to Oprah. And you know, there's a lot of preparation that goes into pitching Oprah, even if you're internal. So there was a lot of practices and rehearsals and we were in the meeting. And one of the presidents introduced me as Karen, which is my mom's name. And I was like, I can't possibly sit through this meeting and have Oprah think that my name is Karen. Like, she has to know that I'm Kerith. So I very politely interrupt and say, Actually, my name is Kerith. And she was like, what? And I was like, my name is Kerith. She's like, how do you spell that? And so I spelled it for her, and she's like, Okay, we went through the meeting, she greenlit my show, you know, we all went on. And then later that evening, we had gotten invited to the Harpo Christmas party, because we were in Chicago. And so we went, we watched her speech, everybody got given Starbucks cards that year, because that was the year of her big partnership with them. And my boss, and I were like, Okay, now let's be just done. Like, let's go grab dinner and talk about next steps. We have a lot ahead of us. So we're standing out front waiting for the Uber and all of a sudden, I felt like this like hand on my shoulder, and I looked up and it was Oprah and she was like Kerith, and then she like got in her black car. It felt like, we were like kindred spirits, because she has such an unusual name. And she actually like changed the spelling of her name, because people would like mess that up all the time. So that was probably my best Kerith moment, I think.
Ozzy: Okay, so let's go back to the meaning of the name. What does Kerith mean anyway? For Kenneth Overstreet, who's a winemaker in California, the answer is obvious.
Kerith Overstreet: I thought it meant like best winemaker in California?
Ozzy: But after some research, we found out that James Michener got the name from a body of water mentioned in the Bible. Kerith Woodyard is a scholar whose research involves religious texts. So she explained the biblical origins of the name to us.
Kerith Woodyard: I think Kerith in the biblical context was a ravine or brook from which I think Elijah took sustenance but God told Elijah to stay there and ravens brought him food, and bread.
Ozzy: Because of this Bible story, the name has also taken on the connotation of a place of refuge. Kerith Lemon said that's how she's heard the name defined
Kerith Lemon: it means like soft, like a resting place, like a nurturing place because it was where this river was on a bank that like sort of converged and it was a very like fertile location. I feel like I'm constantly being told I'm quite a nurturing personality, so I felt like it was fitting.
Ozzy: So the Keriths had a lot in common when it came to the history of their names
Giri: but at the same time, they each have their own unique story of what the name had meant to them.
Samer: Kerith Lemon told us her parents often repeated the story of how she was named:
Kerith Lemon: Including the part where I was almost named, like Jennifer, Jessica or something. And like they asked the nurse what my name should be, that or Kerith, and the nurse said, Kerith
Samer: That story reminded us of how another guest of ours, Thomas Dai, got his name, when his mom asked the doctor who delivered him for advice on a classic American-sounding name. Have you ever imagined your alternate life as Jennifer?
Kerith Lemon: Yes, it's very boring. No disrespect to Jennifers in the world. I really think, I mean, I've always just really loved standing out from the crowd and doing things differently.
Giri: Kerith Overstreet's naming was shaped not just by a 1965 novel, but also by her family's religion.
Kerith Overstreet: Well, since we're Jewish, it's kind of the dead relative thing, right, is traditional. So sometimes, if you're trying—obviously, if you're trying to remember someone who is a different gender, and maybe it's not a unisex name, like, oftentimes families will choose a name that starts with the same letter, as a way to memorialize that family member and keep their memory alive. So the first letter of my name is my grandmother's grandfather, he was a K name. So that's why, I guess that was nice that it all aligned.
Giri: Sort of reminded us how another guest, Naveen Farrani, chose their first initial based on a Hindu pandit's advice at their birth.
Samer: Yeah, I thought, especially with this episode, where we're gathering a bunch of people who do have the same name, it was very interesting to see how it overlaps and how it did not, especially when kind of the purpose going into the show was that everybody has a distinct story behind their name. And all of these Keriths did have a distinct story. But there was also a lot of commonality between them.
Giri: Yeah, it unintentionally made a case for the show's existence, because it's like you're running this controlled experiment with all these Keriths out there. And if your name actually does impact your life, they should have some overlapping experiences. And they really did. And it was interesting to see like, where in life that cropped up.
Ozzy: I guess I'm also thinking about how all the Keriths that we talked to, their mom was reading this book, The Source, either like when she was pregnant or around that time. And it's interesting that that sort of like self-selecting in a way of like, like, I wonder if people from a certain background were more likely to read this book, then that could also sort of influence where Keriths tend to be found
Giri: It's true.
Ozzy: Like there could be some other factors, some other confounding variables, perhaps.
Giri: That's a great point.
Samer: Yeah. It kind of makes me think of what author will unwittingly inspire a crop of new names
Ozzy: That's a great question
Giri: Like a, like a Sally Rooney crop of Connells, or something
Ozzy: I also just was thinking of like Renesmee from the Twilight series.
Giri: Oh, yeah. Totally.
Ozzy: I was just like, I think also like Daenerys became a very popular name for a period of time
Giri: Gotta see how it ends, though, before you name your child. Maybe Kerith Burke, holding it down as a sideline reporter is going to bring the name back into prominence. We could see Bay Area Keriths popping up again.
Ozzy: That's so true, I think, didn't we notice on one of the baby name websites, it was like Kerith Burke was listed as the inspiration for them to write about the name Kerith. It's just interesting that she's so, she's so renowned in the realm of Keriths
Samer: Yeah. For sure.
Giri: First among equals
Samer: Kerith Burke's initial challenge was clear. If you meet another Kerith, let me know. We met a bunch of Keriths and let them all know.
Giri: At the end of our conversation, the Keriths asked if we could connect them over email. Hopefully they discover more things they had in common.
Kerith Burke: We're all Pisces!
[other Keriths]: Yeah!
Giri: Wow
Kerith Burke: I guess that's a water sign and hearing all of these water connections and like fertile land and that kind of stuff. This has been this has been illuminating. So this is cool. I wanted education from other Keriths. And now I feel deepened in my knowledge.
Kerith Woodyard: Yeah, it's really interesting to hear common experiences, things that, you know, seem that they're just something that only I've experienced. Clearly, that's not the case. And although I've always known there are other Keriths out there, it always seemed sort of almost hypothetical even though I know it was real. And so for all intents and purposes, I've been the only one and so I know that's not through. And now I definitely have the experience of meeting other Keriths, which this is a definite first, a memorable one.
Kerith Burke: To be the only one in our spheres, but also know that we could create a network feels really empowering.
Samer: I guess the hope would be that another Kerith would listen to this podcast episode and we can put you in touch maybe
Kerith Lemon: Keriths unite!
Giri: Exactly. I think one of the goals of this project was to foster more solidarity among Keriths.
Samer: Yeah
Kerith Burke: It's so funny to hear our names in plural.
Giri: I guess I should also share, we asked Kerith Burke in our initial interview, what she she would call like a group of Keriths, like a collective noun, and she gave us a stumble of Keriths. So today, we have gathered a stumble of Keriths.
Kerith Burke: That's people tripping over our names when we introduce ourselves.
Giri: Yeah [laughing]
Kerith Lemon: I love it! Thank you guys for pulling this together. Really amazing.
Giri: Of course!
Samer: You may now take this opportunity to say bye care to somebody else named Kerith
All Keriths speaking at the same time: Bye Kerith! Bye Kerith. Hi Kerith, bye Kerith, hi Kerith, bye Kerith. Bye Keriths! Bye. Bye!
[outro music]
Samer: Thanks for listening to this season of Namedropping. You can find us on Instagram @namedroppingpod or send us an email at namedropping@defector.com.
Giri: Thanks to Kerith Burke for launching our quest. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter @kerithburke.
Samer: This episode also included the voices of Kerith Lemon, Kerith Overstreet and Kerith Woodyard. Thanks to Kerith Atkinson and Kerith Koss Schrager for sharing their thoughts with us by email.
Giri: Namedropping is hosted by me, Giri Nathan, and Samer Kalaf, and produced by Ozzy Llinas Goodman. Our editor is Justin Ellis, and our supervising producer is Alex Sujong Laughlin. Our production assistant is Jae Towle Vieira. Thanks to editor-in-chief Tom Ley and the rest of the Defector staff.
Samer: Defector media is a collectively-owned subscriber-based media company. If you love this podcast and want to support us, subscribe at defector.com
[music fades]
Giri: Hey, what's your name?
Samer: I'm Samer Kalaf. What's yours?
Giri: I'm Giri Nathan.
Samer: Oh, it's great to meet you.
Giri: We've done like two seasons of a podcast, but it's still, it's still pretty fresh.