The Personality of Names

Names are really personal, unless you are 1 of 5 Jennifers,  3 Katherines, 4 Jasons and  few Nicks in a group. Maybe this is why parents try to give their kids distinctive names. I know there are some parents who give their children really ridiculous names. Either they are set on going against the grain, or they really haven't thought through the whole process and just pick something that they think is "cool."

I am not sure that this trend is any different from the trend a generation or so ago that used "family" last names as first names.  There are last names that are really unusual as first names.

A few governments, however, have decided that they need to intervene in the naming of future citizens. CNN has reported that New Zealand, for example has done the following:

The list of weird names for kids that are banned by New Zealand’s names registrar has grown to include Lucifer, Duke, Messiah and 89.

Also not approved: Bishop, Baron, General, Judge, King, Knight and Mr., names that were all said to be too similar to titles.

The letters, C, D, I and T were also rejected as first names, the Herald Sun says.

As well, the agency has refused to allow names involving asterisks, commas, periods and other punctuation marks.

And three different sets of Kiwi parents wanted to name their children Lucifer, only to have the name choice nixed.

In 2008, New Zealand’s names registrar drew international attention when it approved such non-traditional names as Benson and Hedges for a set of twins, as well as the boys names of Violence and Number 16 Bus Shelter.

But New Zealand isn’t the only country to ban wacky names for kids, the Toronto Globe and Mail reports.

In Sweden, name choices are subject to a naming law. While Lego and Google have been approved as names for children, Superman, Metallica and Elvis, and the name Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116, pronounced Albin, were not approved.

In 2007, a judge in the Dominican Republic submitted a proposal to ban names that are either confusing or gave no indication of gender, such as the names Qeurida Pina (Dear Pineapple) and Tonton Ruiz (Dummy Ruiz), according to the Globe and Mail.

Gatorade

I have written before about countries that control the naming of their citizens. Iceland, for example has two lists of approved names, one for boys and another for girls. I was doing a little research on the topic and happened to read a few posts by "mommy bloggers." This is a world unto itself. There have to be dozens, maybe hundreds of blogs dedicated to discussing names for children.

It seems as though parents were looking to give their children names that would reflect the coolness of the parents. Ultimately they should be looking at how a child has to deal with that name on a daily bases. Maybe the kid won't think it's so cool.

Then again some people decide that their given names aren't that distinctive and decide to change them. Some don't have to go very far. Meadowlark Lemon was actually born Meadow Lemon. He added the "lark" literally and figuratively. Incidentally he gave all of his 10 children fairly common names.

The picture? Just looking around for a name with a bit of a spark or fizz. Fortunately, I am not planning another family :)

Have a phenomenal day!!