Why, oh why do parents do this to their children???

[momto2boys973]

I'm talking about those "unique" and "original" baby names, which are just a PC way of saying "weird names".

When did this trend of trying to beat other parents for the most original, unheard of before, unique names happened? Whathappened to good old Michaels, Kellys, Richards, Christys and Jameses? And it's growing in weidness every day. It seems to me like every other poll about baby names has to have at least one unpronounceable name in there. And then there's the need to add not one, but two other equally eye popping names to the mix. Why, oh why?

Don't get me wrong, if you want to name your boy Mumuni Saskatchewan Akhenaten Smith, then that's your right I guess. But please, please... THINK ABOUT IT. Put yourself in your child's shoes. Would you want to be Rockadette Alphaville Thomas in Junior HIgh? What possible need for attention and/or desire to be original can prompt a parent to do this to his child?

It seems to me like this "trend" started with celebrities- as the vast majority of trends start, actually. And as usual, anything that celebrities do, becomes desirable for us mere mortals. So if celebrities can go around calling their kids Kal-El (Nicholas Cage), Apple (Gwyneth Paltrow), Moxie Crimefighter (Penn Jillette), Gulliver (Gary Oldman) and Jermajesty (Jermaine Jackson) then why shouldn't everyone, right? But let's remember something: celebrities can get away with stuff normal people can't. That's real life. And people who don't have the fame and/or trust funds don't really get away with coming up with names like Pilot Inspektor (Jason Lee's son) that easily.

Now, some parents don't seem to have a need to have an unique-sounding name for their offspring, but they seem to want the name to "look" original. And so they take a perfectly lovely name like Alyssa or Daniel and turn it into Aallyizzaeh and Deaennioeulle. WTH? If you like a name in the first place, why murder it with an unbelievable spelling? Why give a child the "gift" of having to spell his/her name every single day of their lives to every single person they meet? Wouldn't you get tired of ti after a while? So why is anyone assuming that the children will enjoy it?

So people, please. THINK TWICE before naming your child Almanaque or Oceannette. And realty think if anyone would ever guess that Poulaeh is pronounced "Paula" and Sachariiye is supposed to be "Zachary". And remember that the first thing your child will give as to his/her identity is his her NAME. And it's the one thing that will accompany them for the rest of their life. So make it one they can be happy to announce!

Sharon 

[mabelsbabygirl]

Jan. 15, 2009 at 3:01 PM

I love my daughter's unusual name and wouldn't have given her any other :)

[MemawBrie]

Jan. 15, 2009 at 3:05 PM

I had to laugh because my SIL wanted to name my grandson "Blaze Killswitch"  yep.  Killswitch is the name of a band he likes.  Thankfully his grandpa talked some sense into him.  We told the delivery room nurse what Corban's name was going to be, and even she said, "Oh no, I would have to do an intervention." LOL  They ended up naming him Corban Blaze.  I like that much better.  I do like unique and different names.  For instance, my grand-kids' names are, "Emilee," "Bayleigh," "Rylie," "Koleton."  Fairly traditional names, just spelled a little different.

[ethans_momma06]

Jan. 15, 2009 at 3:46 PM

I second you opinion...theres a point where they get to weird...

One of my favorite characters in a book was named Hedge, and /i loved it but would never ever name my child that. And I sometimes think people get a liitle To carried away in making it unique...

If you name your kid a 'common' name, its going to stay common, its just going to difficult for everyone to spell and pronounce it correctly....

[JenE1098]

Jan. 15, 2009 at 4:27 PM

this made me laugh!  some names are crazy for sure!!  different is nice, old school is nice, a family name is nice.  Gulliver, by Gary Oldman, not as bad as Pilot Inspekor or Kal-El!!  My kids are Declan, pronounced Deck-lan or Deck-lin...some people have actaully said De-Clan...I guess I could see that.  His name is an extrememble old Gaelic/Irish name and my daughter is Keira...getting popular.  As Joe (my DH) and Jen being such common names, I wanted something a little less common.  Believe it or not, where I used to live, in my moms group, there were 3 Declan's!

[cmy3kids]

Jan. 16, 2009 at 12:27 AM

I do understand this for the extreme names, but like someone else posted... different is good. My name is Jennifer, and to make it worse, my maiden name is Anderson! It has been a struggle for me all my life to have such a common name. My mom even tells the story of how the nurses at the hospital told her... there is like 8 other Jennifers in the nursery, are you sure? She just liked the name, and so here I am. I didn't get far on the uncommon last name when marrying my husband... lets just say it is almost as common as Anderson. So when it came time for naming my children, I wanted them to have some unique names. Not anything horrible, but different. My oldest is Chase... which seems to be used to a handful of boys every 10 years. I've met some 10, 20 years older then my son, and 10 yrs younger then him. My second son is Cade...not Caden... just Cade. This seems to be more popular now then it was when we named him. Other then a few hard of hearing couples at church thinking his name was Kate, we really haven't heard much on his name. Then there is my daughter's name. She has the most unique name there is, because I made it up when I was in 7th grade. I've held onto it for all these years and I was so blessed to be able to use this name for my daughter. Her name is Cyloh (pronounced Ky-low). It's a combo of Chloe and Shyloh. She totally lives up to her name too!

[thisloveofmine]

Jan. 26, 2009 at 8:51 PM

Um. WHAT? Are you serious? You are honestly complaining about what OTHER PEOPLE name their OWN kids? Get over it, weirdo.

[momto2boys973]

Jan. 28, 2009 at 1:18 PM

LOL! Wait are YOU serious?? Are you honestly complaining about what another person wrote that it's not about YOU??? Well, someone sat on a cactus today!! It's a JOKE, weirdo, not a complain. You really need to laugh once in a while otherwise you may get bitter (what am I saying... may? ). So get over yourself.

And untangle that underwear.

 

 

 

(Original Poster)