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Baby Names and the Law

When I started taking French in middle school, we were each required to pick a French name by which we'd be known in class, ostensibly so that we'd be more in tune with French culture. At that juncture, we were informed that in France, every child was required--for official purposes, at least--to have a name taken from the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. This wasn't entirely true, I learned later: French parents were once thus constrained, but starting in 1966, a number of "foreign and mythical" names were introduced into the mix of accepted names. And in 1993, parents were given the right to name their children whatever they pleased, provided the name wasn't judged to be detrimental to the child's well-being.

This brings me to the article to which the title of this post links: this week, a judge in New Zealand made a nine-year-old girl a ward of the state so she could change her birth name, which was--Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii. Interestingly, New Zealand authorities had stepped in previously to block other parents from naming their children Sex Fruit and Yeah Detroit, among other things, but allowed...Number 16 Bus Shelter.

A couple weeks ago, Chris Martin (of Coldplay & Gwyneth Paltrow fame, whose children are named Apple and Moses) claimed that "there’s nothing weird about calling your baby Chewbacca if that’s what you want to call your baby...A name is just a noise." That's true to a degree, I suppose, and it's also true that it's the prerogative of parents to pick a name they like for their child. But what if a name does have negative consequences for the child? Kids will find a way to tease other kids no matter what their names are--but aren't names like Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii and Number 16 Bus Shelter just asking for it? What do you think?

And maybe I'll get to babies with car names next time...

Sunday Rose: celebrity or felon?

Of course the primary name in the news is Sunday Rose, new daughter of Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. I don't intend for this to be primarily a celebrity baby name blog, but Sunday Rose is just too interesting a name to pass up. I ran a report at TheRightBabyName.com, and here are some of the more interesting tidbits I received:

UNIQUENESS 89%
This name is about as unique as a name can be without being perceived as "strange". The pronunciation may be difficult for many people, and most people will probably need to be told how to spell it. The upside is that with this name, your child will most likely feel and be perceived as very unique. You can be very confident in the uniqueness of this name.

MEMORABILITY 94%
This name is extremely memorable. It will appear more memorable than 90% of all names currently in use.

ETHNICITY 0%
This name is more common in other ethnic naming pools than your own. Therefore, your
child may not see benefits of ethnic inclusion within your own ethnic group. If inclusion of your child in your ethnic group is important to you, you may want to reconsider this name choice in favor of a name that is more common within your ethnic group’s naming pool.

CELEBRITY 52%
Because this name appears occasionally among celebrity naming trends, your child
may benefit from the perceptions that are associated with celebrities, such as talent and affluence.

FELONS 54%
This name is somewhat uncommon among felons. It scores in the middle of the pack, which means that 50% of all names currently in use are more closely associated with felons than this
name.

Of course this is only a small sample of the entire report, sans charts, but I found some of it very funny, especially the felons bit. As for uniqueness--well, no one will need to be told how to pronounce or spell Sunday, but it's certainly an unusual name!

Finally, I'd like to point out that I'm updating the "Resources" section to include Baby Name Clusters, a new site that allows you to search for and view names in linked clusters based on which other names they are related to. It's a great tool if you're looking to name someone after a relative without actually using the relative's name, for example.

Next up on The Right Baby Name blog: babies with car names!

Where the Wild Things Are

Here's a trend for you all: babies with animal names. I don't mean just Tiger (though the birth name of Tiger Woods was Elias Tont Woods), or even Puma (like the daughter of Erykah Badu, who also has a son named Seven). If you're going to give your child an animal-inspired name, it seems to me that big cats would be the way to go; Tiger or Puma give an immediate mental image of strength and power.

But what about other animal families--like birds? Oriole, for instance, is the name of the daughter of '60s songster Donovan Leitch. Orioles are lovely birds, to be sure, but it's certainly an interesting choice for a baby's name. Melanie B., formerly known as Scary Spice, has a daughter named Phoenix Chi. Then there's Dove, a good choice if you're looking for a "peaceful" name. On the other end of the spectrum, there are Falcon and Hawk. And finally (though this is a stretch), there's always Robin and all its variants.

In the end, then, if you're looking at a nature-inspired name for your baby, it seems safe to stay within the confines of large cats or birds. But if anyone knows of a child named, say, Elephant or Llama, please do let me know!

Presidential Name Thoughts

Hello, and welcome to the new era of the Right Baby Name blog! We started this blog a while ago, but we hope to be more active bloggers, and a better resource for expectant parents and anyone interested in baby names, from now on.

And what better way to start our new era of blogging than with everyone's favorite (or least favorite) news topic? I am referring, of course, to the 2008 Presidential campaign. The link on this post will take you to a page from which you can access The Right Baby Name's name reports for John McCain, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton, which will give you in-depth information about a variety of factors for each candidate's (or former candidate's) name.

A quick but interesting fact: Barack is an African name meaning "blessed," while John is a Hebrew name meaning "God is gracious." Perhaps the 2008 candidates have more in common than we realize, but there seems to be a departure here from our past few presidents: George derives from the Greek for "farmer," and William is an English name meaning "strong-willed warrior." From farmer to warrior to farmer once more--to which name is the presidency headed next?

That's all for now, but I will be back with more baby name news on a regular basis, so please check back soon!

another great naming blog

I admittedly haven't been very good at updating the content on here. I didn't realize the effort that bloggers put into their art. I suppose those who have kept journals have an advantage, as do those who have lots of strongly held opinions (but I digress...). In any case, I came across a great blog at http://appellationmountain.wordpress.com  I'm not sure who writes it but it's worth checking out...

More from Freakonomic's blog...

Baby Naming March Madness Style...

I came across this earlier today--a fun way to narrow down name choice tournament style!

Interesting Slate article on Freakonomics and Baby Names

Welcome!

Welcome to the Right Baby Name blog! Hopefully this will serve as a useful site to expectant parents and anyone else interested in names. We're working on getting some useful content up on this site but until then, please check us out at http://www.therightbabyname.com/.