Where Did Tripp Get THAT Name?

What Kind of a Name is Tripp? It's a Palin kind of name. 

September 8, 2008, while we were all wondering just who this Palin tribe was that had been unleashed upon us from Alaska, About.com said:

Many jokes have been made about the Palin children's unusual names. They weren't randomly chosen. In fact, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin and her husband Todd Palin selected names that reflect the family's personal history and shared passions.

Whether she understood it or not, when Bristol named her son Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston’s she continued the tradition of giving him a name that was the epitome of “personal history and shared passions.”  

Shailey Tripp, a woman, a mother, and a licensed massage therapist worked for a time in Wasilla and was on a  call-in list to help out at the local school where Palin children were enrolled in the fall of 2006. Ms. Tripp has a blog and a personal history with the Palins that she talks about openly. (On Friday's she has an open discussion. Find her here.)

According to Ms. Tripp,  the Tripp and Palin personal history and shared passions include bad behavior in school by one of the daughters, resulting in a note being sent home.  Todd and Shailey met as a result of the school problem, and thereafter there were emails between them. Shailey gave Todd a necktie as a gift. Todd visited Ms. Tripp for her professional services as a masseuse. Sarah did, too, at least once in early 2008.  After a while, Todd asked for sexual favors, paid for them, and sent other men to see Ms. Tripp with the expectation that they, too would be serviced sexually.

Now that’s a personal history of shared passions! 

So, why would Bristol name her child after this embarrassing and morally soiled saga in Palin history?  

Both Bristol and Levi say it was Bristol’s idea to name the baby Tripp.  They agree on so few facts, I’ve got to take this one without question.

Bristol doesn’t explain the name in her book except to say she decided she wanted a T name, to go with Todd, Track , and Trig.

Levi says (page 140 of Deer in the Headlights) the name was “picked out – actually way before Brisol had even conceived.  “Trip was a character in one of those psycho scrambler motocross films. Trip Carlyle.  It had a nice ring to it.  Bristol added the second “p.”

But later, he takes it back, sort of.  On page 262 he says :

It had all just become too much. All the bullshit was static in my head...[Bristol ]stumbled over her words when questioned about Tripp’s seeing his dad since she’d moved  to Maricope [AZ} --- then added that she’d bring my son to me in Alaska whenever I wanted…

I was sure she wouldn’t even remember having said it. It was like her explanation for Tripp’s name choice. Total makeup. I couldn’t even remember what the hell she’d said and I bet she’d forgotten, too. No one has a good enough memory to make a good liar.

He remembered the Trip Carlyle character from earlier in the book, but perhaps Bristol has given other explanations of the name?  That, I don’t know. So I checked out the movie and I confirmed with a quick internet search that “Supercross,” a movie that meets Levi’s description was in theaters in late summer 2005. The main characters are two brothers, one is Trip Carlyle, and top-billed female role was a character named, ironically, Piper Cole.

Because of the Piper connection I’m giving Bristol a break on this.  For now, I’m believing that she heard those names – Trip and Piper – together through the movie about these XXX motorcross rugged racers and something clicked in her not-yet-fifteen-year-old head. She said, I want to name my first boy Trip and that’s what she did.

That said, I wonder if the second “p” was suggested by someone who had “personal history and shared passions” with Shailey Tripp.  

Maybe it was suggested by someone for their very own private amusement. 

And, if it was only jokingly suggested at first, that joke turned into a nightmare. (Karma, anyone?)

Maybe this was someone who had a secret that made them smile to themself when they thought no one knew what they’d done.  This person would have to be confident the truth would never come out.

Who would have been close enough to Bristol for her to share her idea for the baby’s name and to have any influence? Hmmm… someone she loved, listened to, looked up to.

Any ideas?