US babies get global brand names
 

Beam me up Scotty! - read on my brit expat freinds...

Americans are increasingly turning to the world of popular culture to name their children, a study has found.
Children have been named after big brands as diverse as beauty company L'Oreal, car firm Chevrolet and designer clothes company Armani.

There are even two little boys, one in Michigan and one in Texas, called ESPN after the sports channel.

Psychology professor Cleveland Evans discovered the trend after surveying US social security records for 2000.

Bizarre choices

Mr Evans, a professor at Bellevue University, Nebraska, has studied baby names in the US for 25 years.

It is no different from the 19th century when parents named their children Ruby or Opal... it reflects their aspirations

Professor Cleveland Evans
He has found that car models are a popular source of inspiration; 22 girls are registered as having the name Infiniti while 55 boys answer to Chevy and five girls to Celica.

Seven boys were found to have the name Del Monte - after the food company - and no less than 49 boys were called Canon, after the camera.

Designer firms and types of clothing were also well represented, with almost 300 girls recorded with the name Armani, six boys called Timberland and seven boys called Denim.

In some cases it seems something else was on some parents' minds - six boys were named after Courvoisier cognac.

Popular contrast

It is a stark contrast to the most popular names in the US as found in social security records - Jacob and Emily were top for 2002.

Mr Evans told BBC News Online one reason for the popularity of brands as names is a growing desire on the part of parents to mark their children out as different.

He also says that naming a child after a brand such as Armani or Chanel, associated with money or exclusivity, reflects the material hopes of such families.

"It is no different from the 19th century when parents named their children Ruby or Opal... it reflects their aspirations" he says.

Come on, whats the name you would give your child if you could be as cruel and horrible as you really want to be without the voice of reason telling you that you have to call them something sensible!

I lived next door to a girl who called her daughter Shaqila (after Shaqil O'Neal, wouldn't of been too bad but they where both as white as the driven snow and she had a strong Yorkshire accent - go on I dare you - say it in a yorkshire accent and see how naff it sounds!)

What unfortunates I have come across?

If I could be cruel I would call my son Gaylord and my daughter Clitoris - unfortunatly my wife wants to name them Thomas and Adelaide!

Patrick

My husband and I are expecting our first baby in about a months time... just after I found out I was preggers when we started to think of names we where watching a news story about names apparently people with names that are commonly used by coloured people where less likely to be asked to job interviews etc this kinda put me off my favourite girls name, Ebony. LOL it is ironic that the name we decided on if its a girl is the most common... Emily however we did not chose it because it is common we choose it because it was also my grandma's name.

Ash :)

I feel sorry for the kids that get some of the more bizarre names, especially once they get to school age. We'd narrowed down our choice of names a while ago, and now we know we're having a boy (due in February) we've settled on Liam. If it was a girl we were going to go with Evelyn.

I was unaware that people living in the UK even knew who Shaquille (not Shaqil) O'Neal was. After all, he plays that dumb American sport, basketball. A sport which I assumed that all Brits would detest.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Patrick
Come on, whats the name you would give your child if you could be as cruel and horrible as you really want to be without the voice of reason telling you that you have to call them something sensible!

If I could have called my kids anything my sons name would have been Ducati and my girl Bennelli, they are a little better than Del Monte or Heinz etc.

In the end I saw reason and they were named semi normal names.

Andy

I was doing a residency at Johns Hopkins hospital in Maryland and the most amazing names i came across were: Syphillis and Gonnorhea, said: sii-fil-us and Gun-ur-ee-aa. Poor children, the funniest was a lady who when i asked her what she would name her son said, i don't need to you have already: we had written 'baby johns hopkins' on his name bracelt as we did for all nameless kids. Also came across lots of kids called: ABCDE, said 'ab-see-dee'

Is there any hope for humanity????? Still made us laugh!

Adamfdz - OMG! :eek: What on Earth were they thinking?!!!

My brother's nephew (by marriage) is called Coist. His dad liked the football (soccer) player called Ally McCoist.... :rolleyes: Horrid name if you ask me.

Last weekend I went up to see a friend in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. Her partner is a normal bloke but she is a bit odd, into all the New Age stuff and she recently waited for six hours at Central Park in NYC just to see the Dalai Lama (and still didn't get to see him). Anyway, she wanted a 'blessing' ceremony for their one-year-old son and it seems that some of the ceremony had native American Indian rites. It was hard keeping our faces straight when she brought the placenta out in a bucket and as part of the ceremony buried it in their back garden (I think - nay, hope - that she must have had it in her freezer all year long. Her partner was almost dying of embarrassment! I did remark that at least she didn't cook it up and eat it as some women do!!!

I can't say I like the name of her little boy. He was named after a tree and his full name is Burland but he's called Burl for short but they roll the 'r' so it sounds very odd - as in Burrrrrl. :p

Unlike Americans, Brits are not an insular race that cannot see beyond its borders. We have heard of a huge amount of american sports stars - Majic Johnson, the great one (wayne Gredski), Michael Jordan, William Perry and so on.

I bet not one American has heard of David Beckham or Ronaldo, most americans know so little about the rest of the world it is amazing, how they can make decisions about whether what the president is doing abroad is right or not is beyond me.

Patrick

:rolleyes:

sorry to burst your stereotyping bubble, but that isn't true.

Yes, there are two people in Ohio who have heard them! We are talking majority and not individuals, if I ask any of my neighbors (which I have) non have heard of them.

Patrick

If I were to be really mean, and the kid deserved this particular moniker....I'd name him Hugh Jorgen.:D

The hualapai indians in AZ call thier children after the first thig they see when they are born and there is still a dimwit who I used to work with that thinks my wifes name is two dogs ****ing, he was told this info after a particularly heavy liquid lunch when he wouldn't believe a coleague that not all southwestern women are either native american or mexican.:)

There are 3 women in a doctors waiting room and one turns on the other and says

"You named your child Pearl because of your love for money, you are a greedy woman."

The woman rebuked "well you named your daughter Brandy because you love drink and are a drunk"

The third woman turns to her child and says "come on Dick we're leaving"

Gotta disagree with you on this one... lot more people have heard of david beckham... LOL but only because of the movie 'Bend it like Beckham' ;)

Ash :)