Choose: Unique or Traditional Baby Name?
According to our research, the top baby names are Jacob, Michael and Ethan for boys, and Emma, Isabella and Emily for girls. It probably isn’t surprising if you know anyone who is considering baby names. But a recently published study in the Journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science claims that more and more parents are moving away from the traditional names and giving their children original names in a trend towards stark individualism, and blatant narcissism. For a whole list of names, be sure to check out Babyssential’s list of baby names.
Its not that hard to believe, especially in this age of instant news and social networks. Plenty of people think they are interesting enough to update their Facebook status to tell us what they are thinking of feeling. And those on Twitter who “tweet” what they are doing at any given time, what their children are doing and who they are seeing, well, its enough to make us all look like egotists.
Everyone thinks their child is special, and rightfully so. But does that mean that they should give them names that no one else has ever heard of , or can even pronounce? What about naming your child after the place where they were conceived (this particular writer knows someone named Menemsha after her place of conception in Martha’s Vineyard)? What happened to naming children family names? There is a long Christian tradition of naming the first-born boy after his father, or the Ashkenazi Jews, who name their children after a deceased member of the family.
We always hear about the celebrities naming their children crazy names. Gwyneth Paltrow has Apple and Moses, Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz named their son Bronx Mowgli, and rapper M.I.A named her son Ickett (although she says it means “to keep” in her native Tamil). Rocker Travis Barker and his ex-wife, reality star Shanna Moakler named their daughter Alabama Luella. Maybe actress Cate Blanchett and her husband, playwright Andrew Upton deserve the awards – their sons Ignatius and Dashiel are some of the most unusual names we’ve seen in a long time. And we all knew how Sarah Palin’s strange children’s names made headlines. Really – who names their kids Trig and Trac?
Celebrities naming their children individual names aren’t all that new. Remember River Phoenix, and Moon and Dweezel Zappa? But these were celebrities, potentially the most narcissistic people in society. Ordinary people naming their children individual, and memorable names doesn’t necessarily mean they are narcissists, they may just want their children to be individuals from the get-go.
Some unusual names are based on culture, and for an added bonus, individualism. Stephanie Croft of Old Lyme, CT has a one-year old daughter, Zyiana (pronounced Zai-AH-nah). Zyiana’s background includes Native American blood, and Ms. Croft felt it was important for Zyiana’s name to reflect that. To come up with the name, Croft combined the word Ayiana, meaning eternal bloom or eternal blossom, with her favorite meaningful song, “To Zion” by Lauryn Hill. “The two names just seemed to fit perfectly, so I went with it.” When she met two other girls with the name, initially Mrs. Croft was discouraged, but loved the name so much and realized that her daughter would likely not come across those with her same name. She also felt it was important to have a “cute nickname” and goes with Zyi Zyi for her daughter. Does it bother her when people mess up pronunciation? “I did it to myself, and I remember wishing I had thought it over harder, but that feeling only lasted about 30 seconds because I’ve always just loved that name” exclaims Croft.
Don’t worry, a lot of people don’t want to be exotic and instead would rather be practical. Jessica Dyer Smith, of Blue Bell, PA named her two-month old daughter Isabella. When asked why she chose that name, Mrs. Smith told us she loved the name of the character of the popular movie “Twilight”. “I like having multiple nicknames for her too, so when the time comes she’ll have lots of choices about what she wants to be called”, Smith tells us. So maybe, no matter what name we choose, we all want our children to have the chance to be individuals.
