The triumph of Always Dreaming in this year's Kentucky Derby has spurred me to ponder the relevance of his name to our parlous political times.

Does it evoke the undocumented children of immigrants known as "Dreamers"? President Donald Trump's dreams for our nation? The American Dream of "The Great Gatsby" — the elusive green light at the end of Daisy's paddock?

And what do the names of this year's other contenders tell us about our era, ranging as they did from the nationalistic (Battle of Midway, Classic Empire, State of Honor) to the nerdy (Gormley, Girvin, Hence) to the nutty (Practical Joke, J Boys Echo, Irap)?

Although most dobbin dubbing is idiosyncratic (and occurs three years before horses compete in the race), the names of many of the past 143 Derby winners reflect the history and culture of their eras. Their monikers are mirrors of the past.

Several Gilded Age winners aptly struck an imperial tone: Lord Murphy (1879), Apollo (1882), MacBeth II (1888) and Kingman (1891), with only a hint of the poverty and manual labor that underlay that era's opulent surface: Vagrant (1876) and Joe Cotton (1885).

Did winners Manuel (1899) and Lieut. Gibson (1900) echo the recently concluded Spanish American War? And did Exterminator (1918) summon the horrors of World War I?

The names of victors during the 1920s suggest that the old Victorian morality of Behave Yourself (1921) was giving way to the corruption and frivolity of that decade. Black Gold (1924) evokes the Teapot Dome oil reserve scandal, Flying Ebony (1925) the black keys of a jazz piano, and Bubbling Over (1926) and Whiskery (1927) the widespread defiance of Prohibition.

World War II, the Cold War, and the Space Age surfaced in mid-century names: Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Jet Pilot (1947) and Dark Star (1953), while the 1960s and 1970s were predictably vigorous and hedonistic: Northern Dancer (1964), Forward Pass (1968) and Foolish Pleasure (1975).

Spend a Buck (1985) and Strike the Gold (1991) could be mottos for the (mostly) prosperous 1980s and 1990s. And I can't help wondering whether Silver Charm (1997) alluded to then President Bill Clinton, or whether War Emblem (2002) and Street Sense (2007) presaged, respectively, the Iraq War and the Wall Street crash and Great Recession, which turned more than one American into a Super Saver (2010).

In next year's Derby, I'm betting on Could Be Worse.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via email to [email protected] or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 737 3rd Street, Hermosa Beach, CA 90254.