What's In a Name?

Surprise, surprise, I was meandering my way through the plethora of articles on NYTimes online this morning when I came across one on baby names.  The article, while seemingly innocuous at first glance, had me shaking my head almost immediately after I started reading it.  It was written by a man who is currently in the midst of searching out the perfect name for his soon to by born child.  He not only goes through his and his wife's search, but also through the relatively obscure names that have been popping up over the past decade or so, not just from celebrities anymore, but from almost any family who is concerned with someone else having the same name as their child.  No offense, but who really cares.  I understand that a name normally stays with a person for life and that there is a perception that it should be different than anyone else's, but to go as obscure as some of the names in the article go is in my mind, a little ridiculous.  While parents might have the best intentions in giving their child a name that sets them apart from their future classmates and is unique in the fact that it might not have been used much in the past 100 years, there is also a lot of backlash than can come from other children once they reach school age.  I have personally heard of a number of names, that once paired with their parents last name, make me laugh either because of the irony or because they just sound so ridiculous.  Again, this is my opinion.  Anyone reading this who gave their child a "unique" name, please forgive me.  Let's move on.  As I was reading the article, I got to thinking of the process that my wife and I went through when choosing two names for our unborn child at the time.  We didn't know if we were going to be having a boy or a girl, so two names were obviously necessary.  There was always the option of leaving it till the moment of birth and seeing what name popped into our minds when our child was born, what name that child seemed to "need", but looking  back, I'm glad we didn't go that route because the way our son looked moments after birth is totally different than he looks now. 

 

So what process did we go through?  It was a fairly simple one, at least for the boy's name.  We decided that we would each think about the names on our own and converge and discuss.  After much thought, we came back and we both had the same boy's name picked.  To be honest, it was the first one that popped into both of our minds, so that's what it was.  The girls name required a little more thought, but in the end, there were no websites consulted and no in depth search for obscure names to give our child should it have been a girl.  In the end, we came to an agreement, and it didn't take to long compared to some parents processes these days.  So after reading the article and seeing the fair amount of websites that our dedicated solely to baby names and their popularity, I got curious about our son's name.  I went to perhaps the most boring of all the website out there, the social security website for the U.S. government.  It turns out they have the popularity of baby names ranked there, their change in position over the years, and a whole bunch of useless information that most people will never need to know.  So what did I find out about our son's name?  Well, it has been diminishing in popularity over the past decade or so.  While it is still in the top 100 (the ranking covers the top 1000), it is nearing the 100 mark and just might pass it within the next decade.  Honestly, I couldn't care less where his name lands as at this point as it is not getting changed, I was just curious and had to check. If you want to really get thrown for a loop, check out the names that hover around the 500 mark in ranking and you just might be in for a good laugh.  In all seriousness, I know that these are people's names, but some of them should just be retired for good in my mind.  Unfortunately, now that I know all about these websites, will I be tempted to consult them for our next child whenever he/she comes?  I might have a little temptation to be honest, and I probably will check out at least the social security website after we decide on a name, but they will not by any means play into my decision on a name.  To me, a name should be spontaneous and "fit" the child.  Names shouldn't be chosen based on their popularity or lack there of.  Oh well, until our next child, none of this will really matter.  It will be interesting to see what names start popping up over the next decade as the search by parents for the most obscure name continues.