Naming your baby

Newsday ^ | 6/26/06 | Pat Burson

[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."

[.cnI redruM]

If you read Freakonomics, there's a whole chapter on whether baby names impact how kids turn out. They give the example of a mom who named her kid "Shitteed". No data available on darling, little Shitteed's SAT scores yet.

[Gefreiter]

Personal fave? Scientific Mapp and his brother, Majestic.

[GOP_Party_Animal]

There was a study relesed recently that strongly indicated "made up" names doom people to low-paying jobs and low expectations. Wish I could find it. I always wonder why people saddle their kids with names like "Krymzen" or "Shaniqua".

I picked "Joseph Paul" for my little guy. Classic.

[Seruzawa]

They got it wrong. Celebs give their kids names with weird spellings because so many celebs are illiterate. If you think I'm kidding just talk to someone who's worked with celebs on set. They need script coaches to tell them what to say because they can't read simple English.

[freedumb2003]

FYI, there is a male child named "Forrest" each generation who is a direct descendant of Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Nowadays they would named "Forrestt" or "Foresst" or somesuch.

When parents get cute with the spelling (or worse, pronunciation), they sentence their kids to a entire life time of correcting people and misspelled documents, awards and the like.

[Tenacious 1]

I had a sister in Law who worked with "slow" children. She had a kid in her class with the first name spelled "Shithead." It was pronounced Shith-eed' She showed us her grade/progress book to prove it. She had another child with something similiar but I do not remember it. She says that the school demanded to see a birth certificate before they would accept the child with the name given into the class. Apparently they did.

[agooga]

"Why do people give a damn what others name their kids? Oh wait, do we need the government to step in and make a law about this?"

Chill-- it's just fun to rag on people's bad taste sometimes... sheesh.

[NYC Republican]

One of my favorite girl names is Tabitha. Does anyone else like it, or not?

[agooga]

Freakonomics is where I encountered Lemonjelo and Orangelo-- very amusing chapter.

[Graymatter]

I have an unusual name, and gave my kids unusual names too. It hasn't been a hardship.
When I was little, everyone was Mary or Susan or Cathy or John.
When my children were little, you couldn't swing the old cat without hitting a Jessica, a Jennifer, a Jason or a Christopher. Maybe that's a hardship.

[martin_fierro]

Dweezil, Moon Unit, Ahmed and Diva Muffin Zappa.

All grown up.

[ErnBatavia]

Name Game ping...

[Xenalyte]

And she frowns on another trend, in which parents put a unique spin on the spellings of their children's names. For instance, Riley now has alternate spellings such as Rilee and Riliegh. And Courtney has morphed into such spellings as Kortnee or Courtenay - sometimes leaving others wondering how to pronounce it.

A pox on parents who misspell their children's names.

Misspelling your daughter's name means she will be a stripper. It's been proven. Kayleigh and Kandei and Dakoda and Madicyn will so testify.

[exile]

I always thought "Shemp" would be a good name for a boy. Much funnier than Curly.

[bwteim]

For good - as in bad - nonexamples see some comments from:

Vanity: Worst Baby Names
11/26/01

Posted on 11/26/2001 12:13:15 PM EST by Phantom Lord
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/578255/posts?page=1,20

[4catsinmaryland]

I think I can beat those examples. A 5th grader in my sister in-law's 5th grade class is named Unique Beaver.

[hispanarepublicana]

I've just scanned the article, but I'll respond with my usual rules for this topic:
Don't spell the name wrong (It's Cody, not Kodee; It's Brittany, not Brytnee).
Make sure it sounds good after an elected title. (Senator Apple Paltrow or Congressman Moon Unit Zappa doesn't strike me).
If you want to call the baby Lizzie, Bob, Jack or Danny, then name it Elizabeth, Robert, John or Daniel. That first series are nicknames for the real names in the second series.
I'm not as strong on this one, and although intermarriage and the "melting pot" can make this challenging, try try try to have very obviously ethnic names "blend" nicely. Vladimir Gutierrez, Juan O'Malley, Mary Margeret Wong and Ashley Garcia just don't "flow" nicely to me.

[Xenalyte]

That's what director Ron Howard and wife, Cheryl, did with three of their four children, whose middle names reflect the place where they were conceived.

Tacky, tacky, TACKY.

[Screamname]

The only reason Hollyweirds name their kids like this is because of their huge egos...Sort of like Trump naming his kid "Baron", or the all time Champion of God like egos, Michael Jackson, who couldn`t help name his kids who are not his "Prince Michael Jackson Jr" (how can you name a kid "Jr" if the father isn`t named Prince? Oh that`s right, Michael is a Prince) and "Paris Michael" and "Prince Michael Jackson III"...Just couldn`t resist that Prince name again.

[CT-Freeper]

LOL...took me a second, but yes I got it.

My wife and I have just started to discuss baby names. Not expecting yet, but hopefully someday soon.

We're both primarily of Irish decent, and I am also a good portion German, so we want to have somewhat "cultured" names. Although my wife is insistent about having a son named Sebastian...I'm not really set against it, I just have other names (for a boy) that I'd like to use first.