(couldn't help myself)
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 ...
Abatan Costello?
How about Penn Jillette from Penn and Teller, who named his kid "Moxie Crimefighter Jillette". His reasoning being that when she grows up and is pulled over by a cop, she can show her license and say she is a crimefighter as well.
Speaking of ethnic flow in names, someday I must tell you the story of Muffy Lopez.
My favorite is still Immaculada Concepcion Finkelstein.
My fiancé and I have started talking about names and we're as Irish as Patty's pig. So far we like
Luke - The GF is in Med School and St. Luke is the patron saint of doctors and we like Luke's gospel (Mathew scares me…)
Fiona - It's Irish and it’s not oppressively popular
Yep, had a great uncle killed there. They never found his body.
Malachi is one of those Bible names I don't much cotton to, like Ezekiel or Jebediah. It sounds vaguely menacing.
Christopher Abdulla.
Apple, Moses, Sparticus, Rain....
I was in a Payless show store last year, and heard this woman call out "Messiah..Messiah" and her kid came running to her. His name was actually Messiah. What kind of psychotic ego does someone have to have to name their kid Messiah? "I`ve given birth to the Messiah"
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.
Positive Wassermann Johnson.
Roy Prononced "WAH"? (ref. Hockey Goalie).
(couldn't help myself)
Tell that to Byoolah, Gurtrude, Myldredd and Agnesse!
I have in my hand a newspaper clipping from the Clayton, GA Tribune, the obituary for one . . .
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wait for it . . .
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....Numerous Odorus Marcus.
http://babynamewizard.com/namevoyager/lnv0105.html
This is a cool application that shows a graph of name rankings from 1880 to 2005. Fascinating stuff.
Fletcher J
I think Taft would be a handsome first name. Sounds like a college quarterback's first name. "Heismann hopeful and Texas Tech senior quarterback Taft Davidson visited ailing children in the local hospital yesterday....."
His brother's name is Robert Lee, his name is Thomas Jackson, and his four sisters are named Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia.
i love our kids names. we looked over lists of names and their meanings too.
their names all suit them perfectly!
ryan patrick ... our lanky red headed 17 yr old
(means lord king)
christopher andrew ... our lanky blonde (changing to brown) 11 yr old
(means christ bearer)
kelly megan elizabeth ... our spunky golden brown 5 yr old
(means warrior maiden)
all have saint names for middle names and kelly's second middle
name was my grandmother's middle name.
and every time i was asked by hospital nurses "and how do you spell that?"
"geez!" i told them, "the normal way, of course" :D
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