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 ...
I've also considered "William Tecumsah" after the GREATEST AMERICAN GENERAL of the Civil War! It would piss off the southron TRAITOR-lovers too!
It's also a soda ;-)
http://www.mainegoodies.com/beverages/moxie.shtml
Sorry about that! I copied the wrong link on the first one, and was too slow to click "stop" ;-)
Second post is the one I was trying for :)
I suppose I should clarify that I meant "popular history," and not "this history of soft drinks," although the latter is unquestionably part of the former.
P.S. . . . you're wrong about the old time Southerners' attitudes towards him, anyway. He was a popular speaker at UCV Camps for years after the War. My gg grandfather admired him. He was popular because he was an advocate of "Total War - and Total Peace" - unlike the Radicals who ground their boots into the Southerners' faces for years.
Now, somebody we can ALL love to hate is "Spoons Butler" - see his obit. from the Nashville American for January 1893:
"Old Ben Butler is dead! Early yesterday morning the angel of death, acting under the devil's orders, took him from earth and landed him in hell. In all this Southern country there are no tears, no sighs and no regrets. He lived only too long. We are glad he has at last been removed from earth and even pity the devil in the possession he has secured.[Emphasis supplied.]"When Grant died, it was with the respect and esteem of the Southern people. When Sheridan died, all the harm he did our cause during the bloody contest of more than a quarter of a century ago was forgotten, and his seeming cruelty had grown to be held as love of country and his terrific assaults as great generalship. When old Tecumseh Sherman passed away, the people who he devastated and robbed of property and precious lives were pleased to forget the bonfires he made of our cities, the path of death he cut to the sea, and they now hold him as one who loved well his country and was cruel only to be true.
"But with Ben Butler it is different. His stay in the South was a curse to our people and his dead body cannot shake the estimate formed of his character when he sat in New Orleans as a military satrap upon the lives and property of defenceless men and women.
"We have no love for him, and praise of any kind, solely because he is at last dead, would be the veriest hypocrisy from Southern people.
"There is nothing in his whole life to excite our admiration. When it is said that he was possessed of great intelligence and undaunted energy, all that is to his credit has been said.
"He was a truckling demagogue, whose selfishness amounted to pollution; he was an autocrat who used power to wreak personal revenge; he was mean and malignant, a hangman from prejudice, the insulter of women, a braggadocio, a trickster and a scoundrel whose heart was as black as the smoke from the coals that are now scorching his soul.
"If there be a future of peace in store for Ben Butler after his entrance upon eternity then there is no heaven and the Bible is a lie. If hell be only as black as the Good book describes it, then there are not the degrees of punishment in which some Christians so firmly believe. He has gone, and from the sentence which has already been passed upon him, there is no appeal. He is already so deep down in the pit of everlasting doom that he couldn’t get the most powerful ear trumpet conceivable to scientists and hear the echoes of old Gabriel's trumpet; or fly a million kites and get a message to St. Peter who stands guard at heaven's gates.
"In our statute books many holidays are decreed. It was an egregious oversight that one on the occasion of the death of Ben Butler was not foreordained. It should be a day of merry making. The 'Beast' is dead. The cymbals should beat and the tin horn should get in its exultant work. Butler has gone where he can issue no more orders making the rape of Southern women a gala pastime. He has gone where there are no more spoons to be stolen. He has gone where it is not in his power to order hanged Southern gentlemen for alleged treason against Butlerism.
"Good-bye Ben! You strutted through a few temporal triumphs; now rest if you can in the brimstone glare of hell fire. You laughed twenty five years ago when you branded your offensive personality upon the memories of your superiors; and sunk so low as to be beyond the sympathy of even Christian men and women."
Sadly, "revisionist" historians popular with many on this site would have you believe that WT Sherman was Hitler and Idi Amin combined.
"Since we're trying out names here; any thoughts on 'Malachi Joesph'?"
It's fine, just don't misspell Joseph as "Joesph." 8)
...younger sister to Maybelline...:)
I would add two rules:
1. Do not make the name so long the kid can't fit it onto the SAT form. D'Artagnan Artemisian Holographer Smith may look cool, but it's a bitch when everyone else is on question 1 and you're still writing your name.
2. Check the acronym, people! At some point your kid may want their initials on something. Hiram Ulysses Grant had to change his name to U.S. Grant to avoid being called "Huggie" the rest of his life.
My newest grandson is named Isaiah, our little prophet :) He was unexpected and it was hard, but geez he stole our hearts! So, I have John, Phillip, Michael - and now my precious. I am so glad I talked my son out of "Michael Angel" for the third one, but he wanted to make sure my Mookey had a biblical reference as did his brothers. Aren't grandkids the most precious gifts?
"Unless you're from a family like mine, in which case the names you have to work with are Faye Belle and Ernest Buford (paternal grandparents), or Elfa (maternal grandmother), or Mildred and Taft (stepdad's parents)...Blech."
I know, I'm from the south and warped, but I still think Buford is a kickass, good ol' boy's name.
My wife disagrees, unfortunately. But she'll come around after she sees the birth certificate.
It's bad when comic books have better plots than most Hollywood movies (not knocking comics, I'm a comics pro myself), and we have to get foreign films or foreign directors or producers to get anything decent. Of late, most of the really good stuff has been made in the Pacific Rim and watch those up-and-coming Bollywood alumnae who are swooping in to eat Hollywood's lunch!
We have a Matthew AND a Luke. Everyone thinks we were trying for the 4 apostles. Matthew yes, Luke- after Skywalker.
It took years to get over feeling like Beru when calling him on the playground and outside- " Luuuuuke!"
As fate would have it- Matthew looks the part- blonde and grey eyed, Luke is dark eyed and haired.
"Those wacky Gen-Xers..."
Right, like some wacky Boomers didn't stick their kids with names like Space Moonbeam...
Just a warning, Catherine Elizabeth is a very common combo (still class). Trust me- I know. ; )
My grandsons are named: Dane, Nicholas, Daniel and Michael. Greatgrandsons: Eric and Mason.
My favorite is Brasize-pronounced Bra-see-zee. Last I heard he was up on capital murder charges.
"Bet he's glad his folks didn't own a Hupmobile."
Or a King Midget.
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