Naming for Name/Cute/Unique Sakes

The arrival of adorable baby Beckham “Harper Seven” yeah that’s really her name, made me write this post. If you were Victoria or David Beckham, you can afford to give your kid any name you want because of your celebrity status. The same goes for Kate Hudson (baby name- Bingham 'Bing' Hawn Bellamy) and Gywneth Paltrow (baby name- Apple) etc. I can only imagine the look and words out of their children’s mouth when they are old enough to understand. You named me WHAT!!!!! Thank goodness they can change it later on.

Surprised baby

As a celebrity you live a life of luxury, which includes how the kids are being raised.  This means there is little to no question of getting bullied or being laughed at because of your name and if that happens, mummy can always change or home school you. The issue is not with these celebrities, they can name their kids whatever they like for all I care; it’s the ordinary citizens jumping on the band wagon. Babycentre.com reported that the name Harper has now suddenly jumped to #48 on their most popular baby names list. Some parents think it’s cute/unique to give unusual names, of course it is to you since you’re not the one being called Bucket head, so it’s easy to give it. They are not there when the kids are being teased and bullied in school which I know might not sound like a big deal; but for a teenager it’s the end of the world. It might even end up affecting their studies, grades and maybe later in life (becoming unruly). I say this because I met a guy in America last summer and one conversation led to another when he told me about his experience in high school due to his surname “Salami”; for those who don’t know salami is also a type of dried sausage meat. He said his fellow students will come to him during lunch time waving sausages in his face laughing and saying all sorts. He said it affected him but he got through it, not everyone can though.

 High school is difficult enough for a teenager so parents please don’t make it any worse by giving your child a TEASE MAGNET NAME. As we are still on the subject of high school, I can remember attending a new secondary school and being the new comer, I recall other students making fun of my middle name “Nurat” calling me new rat but it wasn’t much of a problem as I was a feisty one who gave it back to shut them up (I still am, lol). High school nightmare has come and gone, now you’re in the real world looking for a job but you keep finding that you never get a call back after sending your Resume/CV to employers and you wonder why? I read a book called “Frekonomics” (I recommend it) by Steven D.Levitt & Stephen J.Dubner

"Freakonomics" the book

 (I know, it sounds like a dirty book right, sadly it’s not.lol ) a journalist and an economist who gathered facts and statistics of the hidden sides to everyday life that people never really knew about or just didn’t think about e.g. “Why drug dealers still live with their mom”,  “What makes a perfect parent”, “Things you don’t know about your estate agent”, “Why people cheat”, “How your name affects how well you do in life”- obviously not always but sometimes etc. They state no matter how much of a good lawyer you are, having a name like “Deshawn”or “Shanique” might cost you clients from a particular race or a callback after the employer sees your name on your resume (which I think is unfair but thankfully I have and know a lot of people with atypical beautiful names with fantastic jobs, which means you need more than just a nice name to get a job).

They also spoke about how having an unusual/unnecessary name can coincidentally precede you in life e.g. a mother from her own ignorance naming her daughter Temptress who later became a promiscuous teenager and then when asked by a judge why she named her temptress she said she heard the name on a TV program (Bill Cosby show) and liked it but unfortunately for her it was misspelt on the birth cert; the actual name she heard was tempestt but by the time she realized, it was too late and she just didn’t bother to change it. From their findings there is a correlation between class, educational background and race of people that give their kids unusual name (which I don’t think follows any longer looking at the topmost list). Also the story of a father who named his sons “Loser” and “Winner” for reasons known to him (surname Lane). To everyone’s astonishment Loser became a winner in life and Winner became a losing low life criminal. Some can say their names played a part on how they turned out but others say they might have turned out the same way regardless, which means if Temptress was called Chastity or Winner was called Lose, which might have made the name fit in his own case will have still turned out the same way but we’ll never know.

I know some of us have names from different parts of the continents (myself included) but at least there are meanings and good reasons behind every one of them. It is pointless to name your child "Armchair"  because it was the first thing you saw in your hospital room before labour or "Loser" because you want your child to strive against the name or "Angelina Jolie".

Arm Chair

Parents to be (soon or someday) please do your research. My husband and I spent months contemplating on Kamil’s name(our son) which means the gentle and beautiful one, so please choose wisely and think how it will leave a lasting mark on your children before picking a name. As you know it WILL follow them for the rest of their lives.

Till next time

Your favourite mom

Shile

xoxo