The Baby Naming Business

[fuzzis]

Seriously? Naming a baby is this hard and that big of a deal? Really?

The Baby-Name Business (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118247444843644288.html?mod=googlenews_wsj)
Parents are feeling intense pressure to pick names that set their kids apart. Some are even hiring consultants. Alexandra Alter on the art of 'branding' your newborn.

...Denise McCombie, 37, a California mother of two who's expecting a daughter this fall, spent $475 to have a numerologist test her favorite name, Leah Marie, to see if it had positive associations. (It did.) This March, one nervous mom-to-be from Illinois listed her 16 favorite names on a tournament bracket and asked friends, family and people she met at baby showers to fill it out. The winner: Anna Irene.

Sean and Dawn Mistretta from Charlotte, N.C., tossed around possibilities for five months before they hired a pair of consultants -- baby-name book authors who draw up lists of suggestions for $50. During a 30-minute conference call with Mrs. Mistretta, 34, a lawyer, and Mr. Mistretta, 35, a securities trader, the consultants discussed names based on their phonetic elements, popularity, and ethnic and linguistic origins -- then sent a 15-page list of possibilities. When their daughter was born in April, the Mistrettas settled on one of the consultants' suggestions -- Ava -- but only after taking one final straw poll of doctors and nurses at the hospital. While her family complimented the choice, Mrs. Mistretta says, "they think we're a little neurotic."

Karen Markovics, 36, who works for the planning department in Orange County, N.C., spent months reading baby books and scouring Web sites before settling on Nicole Josephine. But now, four years later, Mrs. Markovics says she wishes she'd chosen something less trendy -- and has even considered legally changing her daughter's name to Josephine Marie. "I'm having namer's remorse," she says....

[Lil Ray]

Considering some of the names out there, it's good that a lot of parents give some thought to it. That said, choosing a name shouldn't drive folks to needing anti-anxiety meds! :)

[Astra]

But now, four years later, Mrs. Markovics says she wishes she'd chosen something less trendy -- and has even considered legally changing her daughter's name to Josephine Marie. "I'm having namer's remorse," she says....
This just astounds me. The kid is FOUR now and you want to rename them because it was too trendy? How would you even explain that to them? "Honey, your Daddy and I have decided that we don't like your name anymore, so just forget that you ever answered to Nicole, okay?"

Kids aren't a freaking status symbol/fashion accessory and shouldn't be treated as such.

[carsalesguy]

my next kid is going to be either chaquita or toshiba

[fuzzis]

my next kid is going to be either chaquita or toshiba

My Sner says that when I was born, she shared a room with a woman who named her daughter Tobisha. She was told she needed to give her daughter a name, looked up at the TV, and said, "I guess that's as good as any." :smt103:smt103

[Kitty]

This just astounds me. The kid is FOUR now and you want to rename them because it was too trendy? How would you even explain that to them? "Honey, your Daddy and I have decided that we don't like your name anymore, so just forget that you ever answered to Nicole, okay?"

Kids aren't a freaking status symbol/fashion accessory and shouldn't be treated as such.

Just another sad example of the disposable society (http://hvanbrug.com/b2/blogs/values_st.php/2006/06/24/disposable_society).

[Guru]

This thread is so open to be ripped I dare not touch it for fear of being burned at the name-stake for every 5-6 syllable name I could dream up :D

[Hermione]

I worked for a public agency years ago and thought I had seen every odd name there was (including a woman named "Pajama" pronouned Pah'-ja-mah). But that was before the apostrophes and odd, random capitalizations. Sheesh! Don't people realize those kids have to spell that name some day?

[fuzzis]

I worked for a public agency years ago and thought I had seen every odd name there was (including a woman named "Pajama" pronouned Pah'-ja-mah). But that was before the apostrophes and odd, random capitalizations. Sheesh! Don't people realize those kids have to spell that name some day?

Well...some of those family names aren't that hot either. I graduated from high school with a girl who's middle name was "Merwynell", her mother's maiden name. (Her last name was "Muff"...no shit..."Muff". Poor, poor, poor girl)

[Monkey]

I don't care how odd a family name is. . . it's still a family name and I like the idea of carrying it forward. My sister's first name is Reather (pronounced "REETHER"), it was my great grandmother's name. She doesn't go by Reather, but instead goes by her middle name, Elizabeth. There's something to be said for carrying on a family member's name.

[Hermione]

Well...some of those family names aren't that hot either. I graduated from high school with a girl who's middle name was "Merwynell", her mother's maiden name. (Her last name was "Muff"...no shit..."Muff". Poor, poor, poor girl)

:laugh: Bless her heart! Yes, my grandmother tried to name all her children after someone, and my mother narrowly escaped being named "Bessie Pearl" -- she got Bessie's middle name and Pearl's first name instead, thank goodness.

[pEtAl mIsFiT]

let see fuzz i went to school with a guy named Yancey
another named Yawn. gosh I am thinking way back but those two just rang a bell in my noggin for now

[virgo]

Did ya'll hear about the kid some parents tried to name "4real" I think it was like in australia or someplace like that....LOL

[fuzzis]

:laugh: Bless her heart! Yes, my grandmother tried to name all her children after someone, and my mother narrowly escaped being named "Bessie Pearl" -- she got Bessie's middle name and Pearl's first name instead, thank goodness.

My grandfather had a rather awful first name, and all of his life, he went by A.V. (his first and middle initials). When my uncle and his wife had their son, instead of saddling their son with that gawd-awful first name (that Grandpa never used anyway), they also made his first and middle initials A.V. The demon-child doesn't go by A.V., but I thought it was a nice gesture.

[Hermione]

Seriously? Naming a baby is this hard and that big of a deal? Really?



Actually, I had my son's name picked out from the get-go, but we were still arguing over a girl's name on the way to the hospital! Good thing he was a he, or the legal name might still be "Baby Girl" -- and in fact I've seen that on more than one birth certificate, or "Female" -- the parents would come up with a name and never get the certificate corrected. My grandmother's uncle was so dead-set on having a son that he named his daughter "Daniel Benjamin" anyway. The doctor refused to put that on the certificate and put his own wife's name instead (Elizabeth Gertrude or something like that.) She was always called "Dan B" and even her death notice says "Dan B" but anything legal had to be signed the other way.