That Blog

Shy Armani Potgieter realises that a tough life lies ahead

Well, whilst paging through that spectacular display of British journalism known as the Metro on the way to work this morning, a rather entertaining article caught my eye.

A while back we spoke about the impact that Vampires are having on naming trends of children and may have been chuckled at people naming their children after said Vampires…well, I have to say that I would bank one of those Vampire names ANY DAY compared to some of the other options that people seem to be going for these days.

I can’t even begin to understand why you would want to call your child Puppy and have to say that you are really setting your child up for something if you call them Shy (referring to their name rather than their disposition). These are just some of the unusual names parents have given their children over the past ten years.

Other very unusual choices include celebrity names such as Rooney, Bowie and Cobain, along with hippy-style names such as Stone, Gift, Heaven and Echo and fashion names such as Denim, Diesel and Armani.

‘It’s great to see parents being creative and wanting their children to stand out from the crowd with more unusual names but there are a few here that children may find hard to live up to!’ said Faye Mingo, of www.Bounty.com.

‘Parents need to think carefully about everything that comes attached to an unusual moniker as it can definitely shape a child’s experiences at school and beyond.’

One in three of the 3,000 parents polled by Bounty said their offspring had an unusual name, but more than one in ten regretted their decision. Awesome…imagine your parents being interviewed and saying they regret the name they chose for you…that has to have some impact on your psychological well being!!

One in ten say their child doesn’t like their name, and 14 per cent of the children have asked to change it.

The poll also shows that three out of four parents who gave their child a traditional name believe children with wacky monikers are more likely to be bullied.

Top 20 most unusual names

Sensational isn’t it?? What ever happened to good old fashioned names?

[Source: www.metro.co.uk]

According to the Most Popular Baby Names of 2009 list, released by Social Security Administraition in the USA, the most popular baby names in the U.S. right now are Isabella and Jacob. As in the Twilight series Isabella Swan and Jacob Black!! And, in keeping with this Vampire trend, the fastest rising baby name in 2009, was Cullen, as in Edward Cullen. Does this concerning interest in the supernatural mean we might need to start being on the look out for people shimmering in the daylight over the next few years??

It seems that, when the supernatural doesn’t inspire, people are looking to the White House for help (is that any better??)…because, the fastest rising name for girls was Maliyah, apparently inspired by first daughter Malia Obama (the Malia spelling also leapt up). Obviously, the Hollywood aspiration can’t be disregarded, as Isla, the Scottish name of actress Isla Fisher, made the second-biggest jump for girls.

Newcomers to the Top 10 List are Mia for girls and Jayden and Noah for boys, with Elizabeth, Christopher, and Matthew falling off. Marley, was a fast faller…perhaps parents have realised that naming your child after a reggae star or a very badly behaved labrador is not a good start to anyone’s life.

The full Top 10 list for 2009 is:

Girls:

1. Isabella
2. Emma
3. Olivia
4. Sophia
5. Ava
6. Emily
7. Madison
8. Abigail
9. Chloe
10. Mia

Boys:

1. Jacob
2. Ethan
3. Michael
4. Alexander
5. William
6. Joshua
7. Daniel
8. Jayden
9. Noah
10. Anthony

I imagine you would have to have more than a passing interest in the supernatural and “the impossible” to believe that a similar list might be available from SA Home Affairs.

Pity. Would be interesting to see our local name trends.