In Germany, the name Kevin has become something of a joke (The interim pope is a guy called Kevin. Why do people find that funny?, 28 April). It became very popular in the early 90s, especially among east Germans (particularly in Saxony) and less sophisticated westerners who wanted a supposedly cool name for their sons. Daughters were often named Carmen or Chantal.
So many teachers developed a bias, assuming that these students had an Ossi background and/or working-class parents, and would probably not be academically promising. Nowadays there is the saying “Kevin isn’t a name, it’s a diagnosis”, and “My name is Kevin – so what?” Men change their name in order to get a good job. A pity, really.
Marion Clay
Berlin
• The Saint Kevin of Glendalough referred to by Emma Beddington doesn’t get a good write-up, at least in popular song: a bookish and pious hermit with misogynist tendencies in the ballad, he ends up drowning poor Kate when, to his dismay and horror, he returns to his monastic cell to find her ensconced, polishing his crockery; he may have more in common with the assembled cardinals than they’d like to admit.
Eoin Dillon
Dublin
• According to a couple of novels by Tom Holt, God’s second son is called Kevin. Things do not go well when he is left in charge.
Anthony Hinxman
Portland, Oregon
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