Posted on 06/27/2006 10:33:31 AM PDT by qam1
Many parents, especially celebrities, are choosing distinctive names or spellings to make their children stand out
Choosing a name for your newborn requires a certain level of sober reflection, contemplation and introspection.
Expectant parents consult relatives and friends, leaf through scores of books and scour the Internet for just the right handle to reflect their little cherub's shining personality, obvious brilliance and unquestionable character.
So it makes you wonder what the recent spate of Hollywood celebrity parents were thinking - or drinking - when they chose such distinctive names, to put it kindly, for their high-profile offspring. That goes for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who named their daughter Shiloh, and Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, who named their girl Suri.
Sure, we've had a chuckle at some and scratched our heads over others, but before you go calling your sons Dilbert after your favorite cartoon character or christening your daughters Brangelina because you adore Couple-of-the-Moment Pitt and Jolie, give it some thought, baby and parenting experts say.
Like all parents, celebrities see their children as extensions of themselves and choose names that reflect their tastes and values, says Babytalk magazine senior editor Christina Vercelletto.
"What's driving this is this whole sort of Gen-X competitive parenting trend," Vercelletto says. "Parents who are now in their 30s, they have their children, and they feel that from birth it's practically a competition. You want your child to stand out. We live in a competitive society, and you don't want your child to blend into the woodwork."
"Names are really brands," says Rachel Weingarten, a branding and trends expert and the president of GTK Marketing Group in Brooklyn.
Take Brangelina's baby, Shiloh. "You're saying we have turned this into a money-maker from birth,"
"It's this whole, 'Look at me' kind of thing."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Amen...I knew a DeLois.
I'm showing my wife this article: "See? We could have named them George Washington, Joshua Chamberlain and Abigail adams, but NOOOOOOO..." :-)
Pretty happy with my daughters names:
Alanna Marie
Adeline Lee
Autumn Rose
My uncle's name. A great guy.
Roy Hobbs. The Natural.
Roy Rogers.
Siegfried & Roy... Okay. That's why!
Nice!
We have a tradition of middle names for boys starting with C in my family, so if we had more Constantine would probably have gotten used. Great name.
How about this one for a girl, and I promise you this is for real: Hermajesty.
I think it sounds like a porn star, so maybe.
How did you get a picture of my cat? Looks just like her.
Her name is Spook, because she runs around the house for no apparent reason.
How about "Scientific Knowledge", this name has shown up in crime blotters in a local SC newspapers quite a few times (of course with a name like that what did his parents expect).
Yeah, we figured the whole silent "m" would confuse people.
i guess TWO stupid ppl-i also know a mother who named her son talon-his grandmother refuses to call him that and refers to him by his middle name!
Roy Hobbs. The Natural.
Roy Rogers.
Siegfried & Roy... Okay. That's why!
Maybe that's why. I don't know. All the Roys you mention are old (or dead) guys, and that's my point. You never see any baby Roys around. To me, Roy is a rugged name, a baseball name (it means "king."). Just not sure why it fell out of favor (other than possibly what you mentioned above).
Bet he's glad his folks didn't own a Hupmobile.
I like Luke.
Luke Skywalker (Use the Force, Luke)
Cool Hand Luke (What we have heah, is a failure to communicate)
And, as you said, Luke the Gospel writer.
The name Matthew scares you, or the Gospel of Matthew scares you?
In my high school, southern Maine, late 80's, if you called out "Chris" in a hallway about 50 people of both genders turned around.
My little fiend does that too! She was a feral kitten and at 12 is still pathologically shy around non-family.
Tabitha is actually quite lovely, and the picture doesn't do her justice. She's dark charcoal gray, with light gray markings. She has a double line from shoulder to shoulder and a double line down her spine, so it forms a double cross, and a BIG circle on each side. Hence the Spot!
All together now...What WAS she thinking?
I wonder how many people have named their kid Damien since "The Omen" came out in the 70's.
OT: Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed that Hollywood has run out of original ideas for movies? All we have now are remakes of movies and TV shows. Or comic books or video games.
You know you're getting old when they remake a movie that came out when you were in high school.
We were all thinking it.
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