Parents name child ‘Like’ after Facebook button
Your child’s name shouldn’t make people laugh or cry.
A postal worker told me she named her daughters Lexus and Kia, which tells you who her favorite is right away.
And when I was in Romania, a mom tried to doom her child by naming him bin Laden. She chose the name because she kept hearing it repeatedly on CNN and figured he must be important. An English-speaking nurse refused to sign the birth certificate until the name was changed to something I can’t pronounce.
More recently, a family in Israel decided to name their child “Like” after the Facebook button.
As a Guardian reporter writes, at least they didn’t name her “Poke.”
The family is chock full of unusual appellations. Lior and Vardit Adler already have daughters named Dvash (Hebrew for honey) and Pie (as in apple).
But for the new little girl they wanted something “modern and innovative” like Like.
I’d have preferred “Gertrude.” Eighteen years from now, maybe the daughter will too and have it legally changed.
The parents are pleased their child has a unique name, but isn’t that the motive of every parent that concocts a ridiculous moniker?
The Edge, of U2, has a daughter named Blue Angel, so let’s hope she’s a pilot one day. Bandmate Bono named his kid Memphis Eve, which makes me think he had one Irish whisky too many on Beale Street.
Comedian and magician Penn Jillete named his daughter Moxie Crimefighter.
Nicholas Cage named his son Kal-El, the name Superman’s parents gave him.
The list could go on forever.
More than 40 years after the Johnny Cash classic was released, naming a boy Sue sounds like solid parenting.
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77 comments Add your comment
Becky
May 18th, 2011
8:51 am
@Clint..Guess you can’t read either..He says the name that Superman’s paretns gave him..
Former School Marm
May 18th, 2011
8:55 am
we had a student who’s name was spelled “L-A” pronounced Ladasha. sad, but true. oh, and Diamond Marquise.
jarvis
May 18th, 2011
8:57 am
Studies would show that people with these types of names have a much harder time succeeding in life.
That said, the book Freakonomics explained that it wasn’t because they were given no chance because they had bad names, it was because they were the offspring of people dumb enough to name their children what they did. In short, their parents were stupid, and as a result they were stupid.
brad
May 18th, 2011
9:00 am
It’s Johnny Cash’s fault. He started it all with a boy named Sue.
Troglodyke
May 18th, 2011
9:10 am
I’ve heard more than one person in charge of hiring say they throw resumes in the trash if they have ghetto-sounding names. Racist? You bet. But it happens. Why set your kid up to fail?
I agree that the Oranjello and Lemonjello is an urban myth. I did work with an Aquanetta once, though. One time, in the store where I was working, someone paged her over the loudspeaker and the customer standing in my line looked at his companion and said, “What’s her brother’s name? Aquavelva?”
People who name their children after car models (or other products meant to convey status, such as Nautica, Polo, and Hilfiger) are just morons.
It’s entirely possible to give your child a unique name that doesn’t hold him or her down, or show how ignorant the parents are. I have a unique name, and I thank my parents every day for naming me what they did. It’s pleasant, different, and people ask about it. They also remember it.
jarvis
May 18th, 2011
9:18 am
@Troglodyke, I don’t see how that is racist.
It’s elitist for sure, but they didn’t tell you they were throwing resumes in the trash if the person was a specific race, did they?
brad
May 18th, 2011
9:19 am
It’s not “Trog”, is it?
Marz
May 18th, 2011
9:19 am
I worked with a woman named Female (pronounced like Tamale)……she said her mom named her that because it was on the brith certificate as Female child.
jarvis
May 18th, 2011
9:21 am
Female much like Lemonjello and Oranjello can be sniffed out as urban legends on Snopes.
Trubee
May 18th, 2011
9:53 am
Anyone read Catch 22? Doens’t get any better than Major Major Major Major!