................................."MAXWELL!"
Posted on 05/02/2012 5:53:41 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Deciding what to name your newborn baby is no petty task. For years parents everywhere have made sure their child’s name holds a special meaning; whether it’s after a grandparent, important figure, or something of symbolic meaning, naming a child is usually a drawn out process.
But Tuesday’s birth of Jessica Simpson’s daughter, Maxwell Drew Johnson, reminds us of all the celebrities who have come up with some pretty interesting names.
Unorthodox at times, the rich and famous do have a formula for deeming what name fits their child best. Here are a few assumptions and one true story.
• After the first thing they eat after giving birth: Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin’s daughter, Apple, and Courteney Cox’s daughter, Coco.
• Following a recent vacation to the coast: Forest Whitaker’s daughter, Ocean.
• Because they never went to grammar school: David Duchovny and Tea Leoni’s son, Kyd.
• After their favorite comic book character: Nicolas Cage’s son, Kal-El.
But let’s face it, Hollywood’s finest aren’t the only one’s messing with the baby name continuum; we are all guilty. We name our babies after the four seasons, we flip traditional gender based names, and just like celebrities and their crazy concoctions, we also make up names or add variations to the already existing ones. What was so wrong with Josiah that is has to be Jasiah?
Perhaps celebrities should not be condemned for their obscure ideas, but rather commended for their creative ones. Between the 1960’s and 1990’s, Michael was the most popular boy name, and the second most at the start of the new millennium. Likewise, Jessica had a 20-year reign.
But things have changed; maybe the influence of superstar creativeness has rubbed off on us regular people. Jayden and Aiden were nowhere to be found amongst the most popular names in the last 100 years; in 2010 both were in the top 10. The same is true for Mia and Chloe.
If a name is just a word or set of words which a person is known by, then there is no right or wrong one. There are just unique and different ones like Blue Ivy Carter, Pilot Inspektor, or Blanket. So go ahead and feel free to call your precious newborn however you please….just remember to be careful because their name could be the one butchered during roll call, that is, until they legally change it….18 years later.
My best friend’s name was Gladys after her grandmother. When we were in high school all the guys called her Happy Bottom (Glad Ass). As soon as she turned 18 she changed it to Katy.
Missed it by that much!
Missed it by that much!
Or after a song, like Chelsea Clinton (Chelsea Morning) and Mariah Carey (They Call the Wind Mariah.)
Or after a song, like Chelsea Clinton (Chelsea morning) and Mariah Carey (They Call the Wind Mariah.)
Naming a girl Maxwell is just plain stupid. IT’S A BOY’S NAME!!!
I am a “Jr”, too and do not mind that I was named after my dad. I just wish he had a less unusual first name. I have a very common last name, but with the first name added, I can only find about 12 people with this name when I do an internet search.
When my wife & I were first introduced, her comment was “I hope you have enough sense to let that name die with you!”
So far, we’ve not named any of our 4 kids “III”.
;-)
There was a girl in my daughter’s school named Shiphrah. I wonder if she had a sister named Puah.
(The midwives who saved the Hebrew baby boys from the Egyptians - Biblical heroines - but not easy names to carry today. I think Shiphrah’s parents must have been very pro-life.)
I'm lucky I'm from a family of Micks with a history of naming us after family members. I'm luckier that my Great Grandfather had a normal name.
≤{B^)
I’m so bored with Jayden, Kaleigh, and Haley. Can’t parents come up with a name that isn’t “trendy”? Maxwell may be unique, but I agree it’s a man’s name.
Well, I am just thankful that my mother resisted my father’s request that I be named after him. It saved me the legal expense of giving myself my own distinct name when I came of legal age to do so.
I suspect that Jr.s go through life always cognizant of their relationship to daddy. And sometimes this can be a bad, bad thing (not withstanding credit problems with two having the same name—never mind the “Jr.” part, stores have a way of leaving that off). I have particular reference to a young baseball player I saw playing for a minor league team back in the 1970s. His name was Micky Mantle Jr. (yep, that Micky Mantle who bestowed his famous name on his progeny).
Of course, he was a failure (those genes only come across each other once in a while). But hey, he was Micky Mantle Jr. and great things were expected!! Well, they may have been expected but the kid could not deliver...naturally.
I think naming someone Jr. is a terrible idea and in line with male pompousness. Have you ever seen a woman with the identical name of her mother? I doubt it. Women have better sense than to do things like that.
One of my favorite actors named his son after the character he played in the movie where he and his wife fell in love, and his daughter after the actor who was responsible for getting him his bog break in Hollywood. The kids’ names?
Steven Humphrey Bogart
Leslie Howard Bogart
Ever notice that twins seem to have names that are almost sound the same? My wife is a twin, her and her sister’s names are Janet and Janice. Two other sets from back in school were Sandra and Susan, and Terri and Cherry.
I knew a Merry Christmas when I was in the military. He was a guy...didn’t use his first name.
Olivia Newton John named her daughter after the perfume she had when attracting her first husband. Chloe.
My guess is that the practice was started to emulate royalty, i.e “King Edward IV”, etc. There appear to be far more “J. Winslow Throckmorton III’s”, usually from affluent lawyer families, around than there are “Billy Bob Stumpkicker IV’s”. Same goes for the First Initial Only monicker. Just a touch of familial pretentiousness.
My problem growing up was we moved a lot from the North to the South. I was not only the New Kid, but I was either a “Redneck” or a “Yankee”, depending on which way we had just moved, with an easily mispronounced first name, to boot. Not as bad as "A Boy Named Sue", but it did teach me to adapt.
So, I always used only my middle name, at least until I went off to college and had to get “official”.
One good reason for skipping a generation with a family name rather than repeating it three times in a row.
La-a
Honest to goodness, there was a news story about a mother who was angry at her daughter's school and teachers because they couldn't pronounce her name. They kept calling her (phoneticly) "Lahh" or "Laya" or "Lahh-ahh"
Of course, La-a = "La-dasha"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.