A "Madison" by any other name ...

[sparkofcreation]

To cleodhna and thebirdwoman: Okay, you asked for it ...

Okay, so I have had it up to here with people giving their kids stupid names. In the past six months, one of my co-workers' daughters named her son "Atticus"; a second co-worker named her son "Rocky" (not only that, but his middle name is Adrian, FFS) and then yesterday I got word in my email that a co-worker

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[wingsrising]

My mother's former boss named his son "Matthieu."

Our first reaction was: as though not being white (IIRC, he was adopted from Guatemala) and being raised by two gay men wasn't going to cause the kid enough grief with his peers...

I actually think some alliterative names sound fine. It depends on the name.

[sparkofcreation]

I don't think Matthieu is really on a par with Rocky. I would consider "Matthieu" permissible if either parent were from a French-speaking country. And he can easily go by "Matt" for most purposes.

I hate, hate, hate alliterative names. And I hate seeing them even more than hearing them.

[wingsrising]

As far as I know neither of them were, though. I think they just liked the unusual spelling.

[sparkofcreation]

Yeah, that bugs me, though choosing an unusual real spelling is much better than making one up.

[reve119]

My sister and I had a conversation about the strange names of people we know. Eric has a new roommate who's name is Izzy, and it's, supposedly, not a nickname; my sister doesn't believe them (she's like "I can see somebody not being adament in letting you know that their name is Isabel). I know of a Cody Kanodi, a John Johnson (who killed himself), a couple named Candy and Heath Bar who named their daughter Hershey, a Kortneigh, twins named Marcus and Marquis, etc. IMO, my name (Revé) is as strange as you can't get and still be respectable.

[sparkofcreation]

I knew a Scotty Scott in college. As in his last name was "Scott" and his first name was, legally, "Scotty." (I mean, I have a cousin called "Scotty," but that's a nickname!)

Is your name from a different culture? (I'd always assumed it was actually just username, from the French.)

[reve119]

Yep, it's French. Means "dreamt." Technically, it should be "Rêvé," but "Rêvé [pretty common American last name]" is a bit much, lol.

[sparkofcreation]

All but one of the people that you can name who shared the name died many, many centuries ago and were from an entirely different culture besides (also, for two of them it was a surname and not a given name), and the last is fictional.

"Atticus" breaks rules 3, 6, 8, 9, 12, and 13 (and only squeaks by on 7 because Harper Lee did it first). In fact, when my co-worker told me the baby's name, she said "I know, I know, but at least he can go by {middle name}."

I am, however, rather disturbed to see that it was in the top 700 names given to male babies in the US last year.

Re: THANK YOU.

[sparkofcreation]

And, in case it needed saying, I completely and 100% support your right to have chosen an unusual name for yourself, as an adult.

BTW, G. always claimed that Cleodhna was your real first name. Is that not the case?

... Edited to add: Actually, I have a co-worker whose kids (4 of them, siblings) are adopted, and when their adoptions went through, he and his wife allowed them to choose new middle names if they wanted, while keeping their first names. His youngest daughter's name is Delia Flower Rainbow Unicorn Smith. I can't decide how I feel about that--I'm mostly in favor, but wonder a bit if perhaps exercising some parental authority over a five-year-old might not have been called for.

[sparkofcreation]

I believe that I suggested that there are hundreds, possibly thousands, of good naming possibilities for any given child, from among thousands or millions of good names in the world.

Do you really have nothing better to do with your time than troll my journal?

[sparkofcreation]

I guess I see it as, if you want to give a "creative" name, get a dog (my dog's name is, of course, another To Kill a Mockingbird reference). Your child is not a blank canvas on which you can express yourself.

I wonder if it would be better if we adhered to the traditions of societies that give temporary names until the child becomes an adult and picks his/her own.