There is always a problem in naming a child. Parents may want a strong sounding name. Or an aesthetically pretty one their child will like through life. Or a unique one. A pair of amateaur actors I know wanted one that would not likely be typecast if he also should become, as hoped, a thespian. They could consider the name George Spelvin, which is rather famous in theater parlance, though not apt to be typecasted. In the list of actors on a stage play program sometimes this name appears, even though there is no character by that name. That's because it is the name credited to an actor who plays a second role.
Naming a child includes anticipating also how other children will cruelly twist it to make fun of it. I've always liked my name, Robert, though hardly anyone other than mom has ever called me anything but its nickname, Bob. But then there is some benefit in that too since Bob may be spelled the same forward, backward or upside down. But my last name, Loeffelbein, which is Austrian-German, was a problem. It means "spoon-leg" I've been told, and goes back to the time - pre eating utensils - my antecedents made spoons from the bone legs of animals. It's spelling and pronunciation is difficult, so children shortened it to "Lift-a-bean" and "Laff-a-vine". When I became a teacher I had to get rid of that problem, so I would go to the blackboard (before whiteboards were invented) and print "Loeffel rhymes with awful; bein with fine; Loeffel-bein, awful fine!" That worked pretty well, at least within my hearing..
Actually Robert is a Celtic name meaning "Bright in fame", even though my antecedents were not Celts, but Austrian (via the Black Sea area of Russia), Welsh (via a young sailor who jumped ship on the Eastern seaboard and lived with the Indians), German (via immigration) and Old English (or maybe French, since Staples, my mother's maiden name, was a very often traded name among the gentry early on in both those countries).
When I was a youngster Robert was a very popular name in America. You could yell, "Hey, Bob" (or even "Hey, Roberta" or "Hey, Bobbi") in any crowd and several people would answer. But that's in the past. At age 91 I have outlived all the Roberts and Robertas I knew through school and new ones, according to new-born lists I have seen, have been few and far between.
The Social Security Administration's website provides a list of the top 1,000 baby names for each year, dating back to 1880, for both states and country. Tope names that year were John and Mary.
For an example of the change, here is the list of the most popular names for boys and girls born in the U.S. in 2013. John was then 28th and Mary was 123rd.
For the boys, Jacob was listed for the 14th straight year at number one. It is easy to pronounce, easy to spell, is solid and manly, and is a Biblical name, always in style. Next came Mason, Ethan, Noah, William and Lian (who cracked the top ten for the first time). Following those were Jayden, Michael, Alexander and Aiden. Daniel slipped from the top ten for the first time since 1998, to 11th. Some of the "strong" names making the longer list were King, Messiah and Major.
Americans have long given their children aggrandizing names, like Noble and General. Both were on the list for much of the 20th century, though not cracking the top 100.
For the girls, Sophia was number one for the second year in a row, followed by Emma, Isabella, Olivia, Ava, Emily, Abigail, Mia, Madison and Elizabeth.
Some parents refuse to give "expectation" or grandiose or "purity" names for fear of putting undue pressure on their children. Chastity was in the top 1,000 for more than two decades before dropping off the list in 1994. Justice was listed in 1880, fell off the list for more than 100 years, then reappeared in 1992 and climbed to number 518 in 2012.
The 2014 favorite baby names were Emma, Olivia, Sophia, Isabella and Ava for girls. Boys names were Noah, Liam, Mason, Jacob and William. Emma has been ranked among the top three baby names since 2003, reaching number one in 2008 and was second in 2013. In 2013 20,799 newborn girls were named Emma. Charlotte, at number ten, cracked the top ten list for the first time, probably because both Chelsea Clinton and Britain's Prince William and wife Kate named their new babies Charlotte.
Showing how a celebrity name can effect the list, a popular Mexican singer and a character on a Mexican telenovella shown in the USA, both named Aranza, caused a jump over 3,625 names to number 607.
Several countries have passed legislation to stop such a naming hodge-podge. Iceland has a naming committee that consults the National Register of Persons to determine if a name is acceptable. Parents who want to use a name off-list, they must apply for approval and pay a fee, and the name must contain only letters in the Icelandic alphabet.
In Germany parents are banned by law from using last names or the names of objects and products as first names. A child's first name must clearly indicate his or her gender and must be approved by the office of vital statistics in the borning region.
In New Zealand the Births, Deaths, and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 prohibits parents fromchosing a name that "might cause offense to a reasonable person; is unreasonably long or is, includes, or resembles an official title or rank". "Adolf Hitler" and "Yeah Detroit", for instances, have been rejected.
If Danish parents prefer a name not on their list of 7,000 pre-approved baby names, they must get permission from local church and government officials. Up to 20% of 1,100 names reviewed annually, including creative spellings of common first or last names are rejected.
Such regulation would never pass in the U.S. where a Phoenix girl was given the middle name of Joan of Arc, and a female singer named Pink spells her name with an exclamation point replacing the i. And I shudder to think what some adults, who have taken unique names for themselves, may name their future offspring. David Montenegro, running for office in Rochester, NH, for example, changed his name to "human" (yes, with small h). He lost his race 181-30 to non-believers. And elsewhere Jeffrey Drew Wilschke changed his name to the more catchy and memorable Beezow Doo-Doo Zippity-Bop-Bop (and became the punch line for late night talk show hosts across the country).
Sources: The Gamily Digest, "The One-in--Million Baby Name Book" by Jennifer Moss, along with her Babynames.com Website, and "The Baby Name Wizard" by Laura Watterberg and her Babynamewizard.com Website.)
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