Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
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"Meet my kids... Nike, Toyota and Sony."

Sax

07:36 / 14.11.03

A new study has found that Americans are increasingly naming their offspring after popular brands.

Story here from the BBC.

"There are even two little boys, one in Michigan and one in Texas, called ESPN after the sports channel."

Reminds me of the recent novel Jennifer Government which sparked the Nationstates online game, in which a future society had people taking the name of the corporation they worked for as their own surname.

So, cute popular culture thang or sinister example of corporate brainwashing?

illmatic

10:08 / 14.11.03

It's weird but after reading that story I wondered if he was twisting his research a bit.

Anecdotal bit - I was out and about in Sarf London a yea or two ago and I heard a mother call after her kind. I swear she called him "Armani".

Kit-Cat Club

10:43 / 14.11.03

How does he know the boys called Chevy aren't named after old English ballad 'Chevy Chase', anyway? It would be interesting to see how many boys were called Jacob, etc., just for comparative purposes - is this a genuine movement or just a few people?

Is this such a new phenomenon or could one draw a comparison with old puritan names, e.g. Praise God Barebones, I wonder.

I am also reminded of the appalling baby names site that was doing the rounds this time last year - Haus blogged it, and I think the link came from MeFi originally. It included the story of twin boys called 'Lemon Jello' and 'Orange Jello', IIRC.

Personally I think it's only going to be a problem for the child if the name is ugly or difficult to spell, and it depends on the child him or herself whether they like the name or find it repellent... must say I disagree with saddling children with actively peculiar names, but that is a personal preference.

sleazenation

11:00 / 14.11.03

I am exempting myself from this debate on the grounds that i stole my name from a glossy magazine.

Quantum

11:37 / 14.11.03

As my middle names are Quantum and Fierdash I have to say I like unusual names, but if I was called Adidas or BurgerKing I'd be forced to kill my parents and change my name to 'John' or 'Bob' immediately.

Those American kids. Poor little sods. At least it's only a few freaks;
It is a stark contrast to the most popular names in the US as found in social security records - Jacob and Emily were top for 2002.

Kit-Cat Club

11:41 / 14.11.03

This is the gem I was thinking of.

Kit-Cat Club

11:43 / 14.11.03

It's actually a horrible snobby site poking fun at others, but it makes me laugh, however guiltily...

Our Lady of The Two Towers

14:37 / 14.11.03

Is this the 21st century equivelent of the Puritan craze of the middle ages to name your children after virtues like Charity, Patience and Suffer-not-thee-witche-to-live-but-duck-her-in-the-ponde-until-she-is-deade?

I suppose we should just hope that none of these parents accidentally name their children after a brand that means something rude in a foreign language.

grant

18:38 / 14.11.03

Like Heather No-va?

pomegranate

20:29 / 14.11.03

that makes me think of this.

Tamayyurt

22:42 / 14.11.03

I'm a sub at an elementary school and there's at least two Armani's, one Gucci, and one poor poor little girl named Usnavy (i.e. U. S. Navy).

Tamayyurt

22:49 / 14.11.03

OH, and I can't believe I forgot about this one! The other day there was a little 3rd grader named Ronin! How cool is that? (Even though I know it's not a brand, but still...)

Mourne Kransky

18:59 / 15.11.03

Off the thread of corporately branded kids a bit but some friends told Ganesh and me of an interaction between mother and daughter, overheard in an Edinburgh shopping centre, that still makes me giggle.

Child wanders off, distractedly, and mummy calls her back, tenderly, with the words, "Come here and eat yer chips, Beyoncé, ya little c**t."

Baz Auckland

22:43 / 15.11.03

I was talking to a friend in class a few months ago, and her brother's english (as opposed to Cantonese) name is "Turbo". How cool is that?

rakehell

01:34 / 17.11.03

What about this? Headvertise!

ibis the being

15:05 / 17.11.03

The article's a bit ridiculous. Americans are into giving their babies names that will seem unique, because we place a high value on uniqueness & individuality these days.

I would hardly call 77 US kids named after cars a "popular" trend. Also, it seems fairly obvious from the choices of names - Celica, Infiniti, Chanel, even Denim - that it's not a case of naming your kid after a car but more likely the parents' thinking is something like 'hey, Celica actually sounds like a pretty girl's name.' Except for the few weirdos like ESPN. And - Armani actually is a name.

I'm not saying they're great names, I just don't think it's any worse (or really any different) than Americans naming their kids 'unique' names like Dakota and Savannah and Hunter.

zarathustra_k

13:21 / 20.11.03

I agree with you ibis it is hard;y a trend at this point, but it is worth watching. Also I heard about this on some Catholic radion station here in the states (don't ask) and they were going on about what is wrong with good ol' Christian names and how these new names lack meaning, that was their big problem with the "trend".

I new a girl named Solataire in college.

Warewullf

16:05 / 20.11.03

Child wanders off, distractedly, and mummy calls her back, tenderly, with the words, "Come here and eat yer chips, Beyoncé, ya little c**t."

Hah! Excellent!
Also fun is walking around shopping centres in Northern Ireland and hearing young mothers scream "Kylie!" after their little monsters in their fab accents.

Photine

12:29 / 25.11.03

I read a survey of personal names given to babies in America over the last couple of years that found two children called 'Unique'.

Also it reflects a move towards words as names. Some of them are plain and simple words used as a name but others have actual history of being used in some form as a name, for instance Echo and Halcyon. But in terms of brand names, surely it is only marginally more obvious than the current boom of 'Hermione's. After all, the people who called their kids ESPN (I bet that's pronounced Espen) and Canon and the like did it because they liked the sound of it, probably not because of the brand (with the possible exception of fashion designers). The article also implies that the researcher has contacted those families and verified their motive, 'Del Monte' for instance. It appears that it never crossed the author's mind that the name might have a history that predates the company.

Hello, by the way. I'm new.

grant

21:08 / 25.11.03

Hello, Photine.

I wonder if people aren't downplaying the impact of having kids who are, in essence, designer knockoffs. Like, well, OK, she wasn't actually made by Gucci, but she's got a Gucci label.

That's a little weird, even if it is someone's real name.

Photine

15:29 / 26.11.03

Hi grant!

I think that may be an element, but in itself I don't think it would be enough to make anyone name their child something. It has to sound good to the parents first and foremost.

It may also be worth bearing in mind that, most likely, all of the people who name their kids something like Gucci will have relatives that roll their eyes whenever they mention the new baby's name.

In a way, it's more interesting to see peoples' shortlists of names for their kids and which names they didn't chose. My sister in law told me about a theory, for instance, that people call their pets what they don't have the nerve to call their kids. I think there's an element of truth in that but I honestly don't think my mum was secretly hankering after calling me 'Rover' or 'Speckles'.

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