Why would a parent name their child Placenta?
Person’s Label. Photo from bluemarquee.com
Certain parents are adept in naming their child. Select names just stand out, like Justin of course. Every time I introduce myself, it’s always a relief to other people because my name is easy to remember and I’ve got the famous Justin Bieber to be associated. Michael, Susan, Holly, James – they are all common and simple too. These names not only are clear, but according to Laram and company’s study, the “easy-to-pronounce names are evaluated more positively”.
Naturally positive occurring names have many implications. For one, people with simple names will have finer life opportunities. They’ll be evaluated more positively at work and first impressions towards them will be better than people with names like Suozzi.
You may think that simple names are too generic, where’s the uniqueness and fun in naming a child? I know some names that are simple yet unusual, like Caspar and Ivo. Caution though, having a too strange could hurt the owner of the name because it’s odd for the society. We are followers of society, which parents should have accepted already.
When I hear names like Placenta or Gaye Males, I pity the name but not the child. It’s not the choice of the child, but he or she will be affected by their labels. There are many labels that society imposed on the child right before they are born. Race is a label, and being White or Hispanic has an indelible impact on the life of the person. However, name is a label parents can control. I think parents should take more time in deciding what name they would bestow.
What name would you give or have given to your child?
More Moments for you:
Strange Parenting Practices
Comment on Same-Sex Schools Study
What if.. Nationality is a Choice
The name-pronunciation effect: Why people like Mr. Smith more than Mr. Colquhoun; Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
Moment Matters 
I agree, parents can be so cruel with naming, there’s a difference between unusual and just weird. If you’re a rich celebrity, then fine, it is expected that your kids might have freakishly odd names, and they’re probably not going to get mocked about their names at school. But for for the rest of us, give the kids a break, the school environment can be brutal enough as it is! This guy I used to work with years ago, had the last name of Money, and he called his daughter Charity – I kid you not, Charity Money. And he thought it was so clever and funny! Poor kid.
I like the name Johnny… Or Johnny-Landon.. to put for my boy in future. I named the girl Meribel-Angelina.. Meribel maybe is kind of complicated cause it’s an Estonian name but I think they make together quite a beautiful name 🙂
One of many reasons I stick with dogs…I can them anything I want:) As a middle school teacher, I plead, please do not give your kiddo a name (or a strange spelling) that will make him/her stand out! Let them choose what they want to be known for.
My daughter is named Sophia. Short and simple. It fits her personality well, too.
Holly is a lovely name. My step daughter gave her second son the middle name of “Lionheart”. Now come on Amber! Several years ago, I read of a Dutch couple I think, that named their son Google. Uhg. It’s a cruel label for the child and adult to shoulder.
I wish the more dignified names would resurface. A friend of mine just named her new daughter Ruby. My wife and I wanted something that would be fun and cute as children, but distinguished as adults. We went with Isabella Maria, shortened to Bella or Bell while she is still young. And Chelsea Grace, my youngest.
I couldn’t agree more. In addition to the odd names, the unusual spellings drive me nuts! Who wants to go through life correcting the spelling of their own name? I recently saw the name “Awestin”. Just no excuse for that. I went old fashioned with my kids’ names, Matthew and Sophia. Classic, and these days everyone’s so worried about being unique that the classics are rare again. Sophia is gaining popularity, but I was a little ahead of the curve (yay, me), so there aren’t any other Sophias her age around here.
I named my son Dylan Matthew. Dylan was after my favorite musician Bob Dylan and Matthew after my Dad. If I have anymore children I’m not sure what I’d name them. Nothing too crazy though.
I don’t get it when people want to name their kid something stupid. To me it just shows how immature and selfish they are, also that they really are not ready to parent at all.
We named our only son James Robert Jr. after me his father. That makes me a Sr. now. lol We had planned on having more children until all of this mess came up. We wanted to name the next boy Charles Russell if we had a couple of girls we wanted to go with Jean Marie, and Mary Elizabeth. After my wife had the emergency c-section from the labor that went bad and nearly died a few weeks after from the clotting from the c-section. We do not want to risk having more. I don’t want to lose my wife. This is a good blog. I really enjoyed reading it.
Hahahahaha, reminds me of an old Russell Peters joke.
“Certain names mean something in India. But think about what that name will do to a person when they move to the West. I once met a guy who’s name was Sukhdeep. Suck-deep. Can you imagine living your life with a name like Suck-deep?”
This topic has always interested me but I’ll go a step further and add unisex and odd-spelled names. Parents think they’re being cute or trying to add some uniqueness to their child but they’re truly not.
Back in kollidge (it wasn’t a very prestigious school) I had a list of names I couldn’t respect. Perhaps I’ll pull that out again and post…
Martin and Matthew
I know an Erol Flynn. Dermot Mc Dermot is another. I gave my son my name, and work to make him proud of it.
Powerful and thought provoking! I am . . . the ultimate name, claimed by all, but common to none. The I am with our name, common, uncommon or distress-fully common can only be defined and illuminated by the uniqueness of the magnificence of the recipient and guardian of that name. Also a sold case for nicknaming it! An awesome lover and friend – A James turned into the magnificence of a Skinny!!!!!!!! Unique and one of a kind!
WOW! Is there really a child out there named Placenta? That is awful and sad. Parents should never use their children as their own little social experiment!!
I’m pretty sure that Johnny Cash’s ‘Boy Named Sue’ sums up this problem with great aplomb. There are many names from many languages which are used that mean things like ‘king’, ‘strong’, ‘wonderful’, ‘princess’, and so on… if you want to name your kid uniquely, it will make them unique. Just don’t name them ‘shit’ or ‘asshole’ because those names will get applied anyway. 🙂
I guess I’ll be the first to say it….”Ghetto Names”. I know every one was thinking it. Alizé, Shamika, Shaniqua, Di’ Marrco, Tyquon, Umunique. Yea all that! I am black and Mexian and sometimes ashamed. “They” even make common names so difficult like Ashleigh (Ashley). It’s really sad! My name Choya….actually has meaning. It’s a flower on a cactus. Wierd? Yes! Do people have a hard time saying and spelling? Yes! But it has a meaning! I am proud! Yes I have kids. Cassidy and Carma. One common and one uncommon. We named her Carma because we were breaking up the day he took me to the dr. When he found out I was pregnant that saved our relationship. Our good Karma!
I knew a woman named Holly, she married a man with the last name Hawley. Yep she is Holly Hawley.
I’ll stick to dogs. Beauregard, Sherman, Jackson and then to throw a curve in the linage of Civil War generals Kick.
I have a unique name, so I am biased toward giving children unique names. I do agree though that some names are ridiculous, like Placenta.
I went with a somewhat traditional, family name for my first, Sara Elizabeth. Seems simple enough, but people are still thrown by the H or No-H version of Sara/h. For my second daughter, I went non-traditional and named her after the heroine in Sandra Brown’s novel Slow Heat in Heaven, which I read while I was pregnant. Schyler. Schyler Shane. In classrooms and doctor’s office waiting rooms, we frequently answer to SHyler. 🙂 Also, her paternal grandparents have never learned to spell it right (after 16 years, so far) and all of her holiday and birthday cards are addressed to SchUyler. Oh well…
I’d name my daughter Francesca because it’s my favorite girls name. Second choice is Tatiana because I’m part Ukrainian and that’s my fav Ukrainian name.
For my son, I’d name him something more common: Robert but I’d call him Bobby. Second choice in a boys name: Peyton. No, I’m not a fan of Peyton Manning.
Just don’t call me: late for dinner!
I really wanted to name our daughter Siobhan. I’ve always loved that name. But we have a very hard to spell and harder to pronounce last name, so my husband convinced me we should at least give her a first name that would be easy to pronounce. So Andrea it is!
I named my oldest Justin David, the youngest Ian Skye, Skye was the name of a friend. Common names are problematic in school where you may not be the only one. Justin had a classmate named Dustin, it confused both kids when the teacher called on one because the sound was so similar.
There is a woman in the nearby city who could only eat lemon and orange jello when pregnant with twins. You guessed it she named them lemonjello (pronounced le mon je lo) and orangejello (or an je lo). My son laughed when he heard someone named their boy ESPN
Some folks are really weird wth names. And it is a shame. A firefighter friend of mine went on a call, and the son’s name was said phonetically or ANGE jullo. Get the emphasis? Now this is how it is spelled on the license: Orangejello! The father’s name was phonetically shi TEE ed. Perhaps you can figure that one out yourself. 😛
Well, since I’ve given my kids pseudonyms on my blog, I guess it wouldn’t be the best plan to tell you the names we picked. 😉 However, I will say that we had the hardest time agreeing on boy names! Neither of us wanted to go with anything too “weird,” but we also didn’t want to pick one of the most popular names, no matter how much we liked them. I was always one of between 3 and 5 Jennifers in any class I was in, and I hated it. I got the giggles one night when we were discussing boy names and realized our favorites at that time were Andrew and Jackson. I said we could name him Andrew Jackson and call him “Bill,” as in twenty-dollar bill. 😉 We didn’t end up using Andrew OR Jackson, as it turned out.
I like the practice in some cultures of using names that clearly convey a meaning. I know names have meanings in English, too, but it is not usually clearly communicated. No one ever called me “Fair and Smooth,” for example. I like the idea of Warm Heart or Generous Laughter or Beloved One. But we didn’t do that, either.
When I was born , low these many years ago, I was supposed to be a girl and I was to be Victoria. When that didn’t work out too well, I became Victor A. But you can call me Al.
P.S. Thanks for visiting my blog.
I know Neil Armstrong (no not that one)
Seriously though for the most part, my 2 closest friends have chosen very boring names, however when put together they are Jack and Daniel!
When I have a son he will be called either Reuben or Maynard