Are baby names in this generation getting too creative and odd?
My name is Christy. I have a fairly common name. Still, I can’t even count the number of times someone has asked what my real name is. Everyone assumes that Christy is short for Christina or Christine or something. Sorry to disappoint, but Christy is short for Christy. Along with that is the constant misspelling. Christy, Christie, Kristy, Kristi, Kristie, etc….the list continues on.
Considering I have a “normal” name and still have some slight difficulties, I can’t help but feel bad for kids with uncommon names. The misspelling, mispronunciations, disbelief that it’s their real name, and all the other problems that kids could go through leaves me wondering, is this worth having a unique name? Are we getting too creative when naming our babies?
Celebrities
When it comes to celebrities, it seems everything is monkey see, money do. Not only does the general public copy many things that celebrities do, but other celebrities also follow in suit. Baby naming is no exception to the rule. Though celebrities have always been naming their children off the wall names, it seems to have gotten more and more out of control in recent years. With Gwyneth Paltrow naming her daughter Apple and Courtney Cox naming her daughter Coco, all of a sudden mothers everywhere were on a mission to come up with the next non-name name. Click here for all the silly celeb names you should never use…
Non-name names
A decade ago, no one would have thought Sky or Blaze would be anything other than descriptive words. These days, they aren’t even considered extremely unique names. In the last ten years, some formerly non-name names have become so popular that they even make Top Names Lists. My daughter has two kids named River in her school. River? Who was the first person to think to themselves, “That would make a really great name for my child!” Who was the first person to name their kids any of these non-name names?
Weird Spellings
Along with non-name names comes the off the wall spelling ideas. To me, these parents are the ones who aren’t brave enough to make their own name up, but still want to appear to be creative. These parents say to themselves, “I love the name Aiden, but it’s so common. I want to seem like a creative person so I will spell it Aadynn. For these parents, your child, your choice. However, I would like to remind you of elementary and middle school on the first day or when a substitute teacher came to class. Do you remember roll call when the teacher struggled through a tough name or pronounced it wrong altogether? Do you remember all the kids snickering and teasing the kid for the rest of the day? This will happen to your child should you choose to spell their name “creatively”. So to the mom who wants to name her child King, but spell it Quin and expects everyone to “get it”, think again. Click here for baby names to avoid at all cost!
Again parents, they’re your children and you get to name them whatever you want. That’s one of the best parts of expecting children. However, just try to remember that your children have to live with those names forever and there are consequences at times. I remember reading a story once that explained those with uncommon or hard to pronounce names get called less for interviews as hiring managers rush to judge. Is this fair? Not at all, but it still happens. How will you feel if no one ever takes your kid serious because their name is Batman? Think about it. I’m not saying that we need to all name our kids off the Most Common Names of 2012, but maybe we could reign in the creativity a bit.
Tell us some of the weirdest baby names you have come across–share with us here…
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Christy Rasmussen is the mother of one very active preschooler with baby #2 due in December. She holds degrees in business and in political science/government, but discovered her love of writing after starting a blog for fun about her parenting experiences.