Over at Secular Right, John Derbyshire writes that his book Prime Obsession is being translated into Russian and that it only seems fitting that he get a name like a character in a Russian novel. John Jovanovich Derbishky, or something like that.

Then I wondered what kind of Russian name would best describe me. My first thought was Prince Myshkin--the protagonist from Dostoyevsky's The Idiot. (Hat tip to Mel Brooks).

But then I thought of a name even closer to the real me: Count Jerkoff.