Posted on 08/03/2007 11:41:14 AM PDT by Cavalcabo
What's in a name? Way too much where babies are concerned.
According to The Wall Street Journal, parents are obsessing over what to name their kids. They're hiring consultants, applying mathematical formulas and software programs and even bringing in nutty spiritualist types.
One couple hired a pair of consultants to draw up a list of suggestions based on "phonetic elements, popularity and ethnic and linguistic origins."
One woman paid a "nameologist" $350 for three half-hour phone calls and a personalized manual describing each name's history and personality traits.
Another spent $475 on a numerologist to see if her favorite name had positive associations, whatever the heck that means.
Why the obsession over children's names? One baby-naming expert says that we live in a market-oriented society. That by giving your kid the right name -- the right branding, if you will -- he or she will have a head start in life.
Oh, brother.
Look, I know these parents mean well. I know they're trying to do what is best for their kids. I know they think a special name will help the rest of the world know how special their kid is.
But they're doing more harm than good. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
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Here’s some free advice I’m willing to give parents - don’t rely on your bowl of alphabet soup to determine your child’s name.
Never give your child the initials JFK. Any famous ones after Kennedy have proven to be complete dorks.
Never name your child John Wayne ______ or Jesse James _____ unless you want your kid showing up on Cops.
Never use the same first name as the least funny of the Marx brothers or Hitler's successor. Hey, wait a second....
In our family, we just named every generation after the one before. The problem was that we wound up with about 200 guys named John. If you called out, “John,” you had a bunch of guys yelling back, “What????”
My favorite name was one a female suspect had — she was arrested some years ago for shoplifting — “Shandaleer” — as in “swinging from the.....” Her family must not have liked her, or they had a weird sense of humor.
On many of the popular name lists, you will see that “Madison” is in the top 10 of girls names nowadays. Madison did not even exist as a girls name until the movie “Splash” when Tom Hanks named the mermaid girl “Madison” because they were walking down Madison Avenue and he saw the street sign and he just arbitrarily named her that.
If you want to talk about how influenced people can be by silly things, the popularity of the name “Madison” is a prime example.
Having parents who don’t hire a consultant to name you would be a heck of a lot bigger “head start in life”.
Brandy and Brittany were popular there for a while. I wondered why they didn’t also name their little darlings Whiskey and Labrador.
We chose names that appear in the Bible. Maybe that seems silly in a world of Shaniquas and Madisons.
I don’t think that’s the only (of even chief) source of the popularity of Madison as a girl’s name. It has a traditionally feminine sound, being a cross between Madeleine and Allison, and also has a touch of patriotism (James Madison). Same things contributed to “Reagan/Regan” catching on as a girl’s name for a while — sounded sort of feminine like Megan, and sort of like a popular conservative President too.
I've always looked at the positive side: some have more and spend it; on important things, trivial things, crazy things, doesn't matter. They spread the wealth and everybody, including society, wins.
Providing a silly service is not a crime. Paying for it may be a virtue.
Just saying.
I thought it was due to the popularity of that chick flick (which I never saw) named Madison County...
I don’t knock it either — if someone wants to spend $400 or whatever to consult with someone about a name, that’s his/her business, and if someone makes a profit by offering such a service, good for that person. It’s the American way — provide a service and get paid for it. Consumerism at its best.
For me, though, I just think $400 would be better spent on, say, an education for the child. The child could have the best name in the world, but it’s meaningless if he/she can’t read or write or do even simple math. But that’s just my opinion.
Madison as a male or female name is ok. Someone here (or Irish descent) named her daughter Caleigh — nice name too. But I’m noticing that there are a number of people going back to more traditional names. For example, last week, I received an announcement from a relative — her newborn granddaughter is named Hannah. I like the traditional names myself, but to each his/her own, just so long as you don’t have the 200 or so people named John, as I mentioned earlier.
I’m always amazed that people do not pay attention more to what the names actually mean. I agree with biblical names we chose that route too. I’ve seen people that do not read their bibles pull names from the bible as well, they end up naming their children things like Darius etc.
Lee Harvey _________ probably wouldn't be such a good idea, either.
I charge by the letter myself and can help you with Biblical names, too. You can call your kid “Corinthians”, for example, for about $500. If you want to call him “First Corinthians”, there’s a $75 upcharge. “Joe”, “Sam” or “Sue” are all under $100. This week’s special is “Ralph” at $59.95. But, you need to call soon before they’re all sold out, OK?
Ping, y’all. I suspect it’s liberals who need to hire someone to name a baby ...
My parents sure didn’t pay anyone to come up with the name Clam.
So you can’t ask for their investment back ...
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