Don't You Just Love Little "Love Him"?

by Valorie Delp | More from this Blogger

Whenever I hear a story like this one I always think of the episode of Friends where Pheobe discovers that the laws in the United States allow for one to legally change one's name to virtually anything. So Phoebe decides that she is going to rename herself Princess Consuela Bananahammock. Because hey--why not? Apparently a whole host of my generation has seen Friends and identifies with the self confident Pheobe who has no reservations about going through life seriously, as Princess Consuela Bananahammock. Oh but wait. . .Phoebe is a fictional character, but I think that someone forgot to tell these parents that it is not in fact cool to name your child something that weird.

I'm all for the unusual baby name. I really am. It's my husband who is into plain Jane type names. In fact, I think if he was solely responsible for naming our children, we may well have had a Jane. Using the name Amaris as one of our children's middle names was just about as creative as I could get. But there is a definite limit to my creativity.

A few months ago parents tried to name their son '4Real'. The New Zealanders were told that they could not name their child '4Real' because the name contained a number and in New Zealand you can apparently only name your children things that are spelled with letters. So the couple decided that the child's official name would be Superman, but they are calling him '4Real' after the father said that when he saw the heartbeat on the sonogram screen for the first time he realized that his baby was 'for real'. Ahem. . .how touching.

What baffles me is little Superman's father was "hurt" when he saw all the people's comments on the internet opposing the name '4Real.' Seriously? All I can say is that if you were hurt reading people's disapproval of your choice of name--how will little 'Superman' or '4Real' feel when his peers make fun of him? Because with a name like that, he is a predestined playground target.

The newest onslaught of naming weirdness has come from a couple in China who would like to name their son @. Yes, @, as in the symbol in all the e-mail addresses. Apparently (or supposedly), the symbol @ makes more sense than '4Real'. Since Chinese is made up of symbols rather than letters, this is just a step slightly outside the realm of normal. But I don't think the Chinese authorities will see it that way. There is no official word on whether or not they will be allowed to name their child @. On a side note, the meaning of the pronounced name would mean 'love him'.

But seriously, do you really want your child going through life trying to explain what ingenious and creative parents he has? I can't say for sure, but if it were me that were named '4Real', Superwoman, @ or other creative symbol. . .I would be thinking that Princess Consuela Bananahammock sounded pretty good.

Related Articles:

Let's Talk About Naming Your Baby

Naming Your Baby--A Privelege or a Right?

Naming A Baby--Special Considerations

Learn more about Valorie Delp

Hello everybody! My name is Valorie and I am one busy lady! When I'm not writing or editing for families, I am busy trying to get my brood of 5 in line.

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