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!