What Is In A Name?
There is a recent article in the news about a New Zealand court who took custody of a nine year old who was possibly given the weirdest name on the planet by her parents: Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii. The judge ordered the parents to rename the child after lecturing them about the future humiliation will receive while she is in school. This article does more than that: it brings to attention the increasing number of new parents who are giving their children weird names.
So, why are so many new parents giving their children such weird names? I'm not talking about a name like the New Zealand parents in the article gave their child, although by itself, Talula probably is not that bad. The parents could always tell everyone they know, they named their daughter after the famous actress Tallulah Bankhead. I am talking about names like Booneyboo or even Xixoni. Then we have the problem of punctuation in names. An example of this would be K!v*n$ or $%^!!@ althought the latter is probably more commonly associated with a cuss word than a personal name. It's one thing to give your child a unique name of identity but giving him or her a name that he or she can be made fun of or wind up feeling insecure about does not necessarily help the child. Granted, by the time the child reaches the age of eighteen, he or she can go to court and legally change his or her name. But eighteen years with a weird name can seem like an eternity for a kid.
Logically, if all kids share the same percentage of weird names, then the name the parents gave their offspring no longer has a unique name identity. Neither does having a weird name guarantee that the child will be successful in life, unless that kid grows up to be a rap singer. I mean, whoever heard of a CEO or COO named Mashuka Boola Boola? Unless Mashuka is a Yale graduate with good connections, he isn't going to get far in life.
The fact remains that the practice of parents giving their children weird names is a trend. Many parents still give their children traditional names like William, Elizabeth, Joe, Robert, Susan, and Lisa. At least those kids won't be made fun of for having normal first names.