Scholars of Arlo & Janis are excused from today’s post, because I’m going to tell a story many of you know already. Hey, it’s Friday! I was reminded of this bit of trivia in round-about fashion by the title of today’s post. What is the family name of Arlo and Janis? It’s “Day.” Why Day? Well, the working title of Arlo & Janis, before it actually launched in newspapers, was (drum roll, please) Arlo & Janis. However, my new handlers at United Media in New York City felt we could come up with something more clever than that. Folks at the syndicate put their heads together and suggested I name the family “Day,” and we could call my new feature Day by Day. I wasn’t crazy about it, but what did I know? I only created, wrote and drew the thing. I said, “OK.” But an anonymous researcher in the bowels of the United Media offices, which were then in the Met Life Building in midtown Manhattan (Ah, the glory days!), found that there was a defunct newspaper column out there entitled Day to Day. Now, newspaper syndicates are nothing if not timid, and it was feared the risk of a legal dust-up was too great. It was decided, “What th’ heck? Let’s just call it Arlo & Janis.” I was glad. The name Day stuck, for some reason, although I have never been fond of it. Perhaps we should have a contest: give Arlo & Janis a new surname!