From Hillary to Hillary

Talk about strange conjunctions. Sir Edmund Hillary has died. So, I don't know why but I happen to notice the match between his second name and Hillary Clinton's first name, and I wonder, unproductively, whether this piece of news is a good omen for the senator - as in: the first man to get to the top of Everest, the first woman to become president of the United States - or a bad omen for her - as in: he died in 2008 and so did her campaign. I do some Googling to check if there's anything else on this conjunction. Anything else! It's all over the place.

First I read that:

On a visit to New Zealand nine years ago, former US President Bill Clinton was another to pay tribute to the man he said his wife Hillary was named after.

"I am particularly honoured to be here with Sir Ed Hillary, referred to in our family as my second favourite Hillary," Clinton said.

Next I read that:

Hillary Clinton later claimed to have been named after Sir Edmund, even though she was born in 1947, long before the climb made him well-known.

Then that:

Mrs. Clinton grew up in the Chicago suburb Park Ridge, and her mother named her for the mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary.

And finally that:

[Y]esterday, Mrs. Clinton's campaign said she was not named for Sir Edmund after all.

"It was a sweet family story her mother shared to inspire greatness in her daughter, to great results I might add," said Jennifer Hanley, a spokeswoman for the campaign.

Not just a fanciful conjunction then, but an old story, with several chapters.