When my husband and I were choosing names for our own children, we were hoping that there would not be five other little girls
Picture courtesy of www.TipTopTens.com
named Kate in our daughter’s class. However, we tried to avoid names that seemed SO different that they bordered on weird. Unique baby names seem to be a must have in Hollywood. Check out the names these three celebrities chose for their children: Gywneth Paltrow, Jason Lee and David Duchovny.
Apple Blythe Alison Martin: This is what Gywneth Paltrow and musician Chris Martin named their first-born. Gwyneth wanted to name her daughter something that was “different” yet that everyone had a positive association with. I mean, who doesn’t like a nice, juicy red apple? Be that as it may, I think she should have stuck with either Blythe or Alison (her mother’s name and her mother-in-law’s name) and she would have had a winner. Maybe not a super unique baby name but a very nice, normal baby name…and who doesn’t like a beautiful (and yet not off the wall) name for a little girl?
Pilot Inspektor Lee: This extremely unique baby name belongs to the unlucky son of actor Jason Lee. I do know that Jason Lee is a comedian, however, spare me the joke when choosing a name for your baby’s sake, please! Even worse, he allegedly named the baby from a line in a song by the band Granddaddy–”He’s simple, he’s dumb, he’s the pilot.” Given the line from the song after which poor Pilot was named, I understand their attraction to the name even less. But they did come up with a very unique baby name. I’m sure Pilot Lee will be the only “Pilot” in his class.
Kyd Miller Duchovny: David Duchovny and Tea Leoni named their second child Kyd Miller. Now, I can’t say that I know where the name Miller came from–it may be a family surname and therefore, I kind of like it. I actually know a little girl whose middle name is Miller and that is what she goes by. It’s kind of cute. However, I can only guess that David and Tea made up the name Kyd and in my opinion, it’s not the worst, but definitely seems to be trying way too hard to be cool. Do they chuckle every time they call their son? “Hey, Kyd! It’s time for dinner!” “Go to your room, Kyd!” Especially since their first daughter is named Madelaine, I have to ask “Who were they trying to Kyd?” when they named their son?
Though I tend to lean towards more traditional baby names for my own children, I do say to each his own. And if celebrities feel their famous-by-association children need unique baby names to help them “fit in” in Hollywood and “stand out” everywhere else, more power to them. As for me, I like apples in pies, pilots in the cockpit and my kyds tucked in bed. But that’s just my plain-old, non-celebrity opinion.
I think that the name becomes the person, not the other way around. No one in her life ever thinks of Apple being anything but Apple, that’s who she is. It is a part of her. No matter what your name, that’s you, and unless it is incredibly heinous, like Shithead, it’s going to work.
Not a fan of crazy unique names either. I’m sure the kids in hollywood will do fine with their names and make something sweet out of them, but for my currently unfamous children I’d rather stick with something not so off the wall.
I’d say Sarah is right, that most of the time the name becomes the person, but I think every once in a while parents go overboard and there’s nothing that poor kid can do to make their name becoming. I’ve met some darn cute kids and no matter how much I know them I still think their name is rotten.
I am a nurse and knew a few nurses that work in L&D and say they think nurses should be allowed to veto names that parents want to inflict on their children. I tend to think that unless there is something clearly wrong with a baby’s name, go on and name your child that.
your opinion is almost the exact opposite of mine! lol. My sister had a unique name which was simply the combination of two short 4 letter names but together it became a unique singular name and I spent my entire life jealous of her. I spent my whole life being told, I have an aunt with that name! We had five Sarahs in my class, a grade older had 4 Jennifers etc etc and I swore I would never do that to my children. Only one child so far and I have not done that to my children. When picking a name I told my husband if you can find it in a baby book it is too common and I will not use it. He suggested a name from a character of Tolkien I added two letters to it to make it even more unique and voila we finaly agreed (he wanted mundane and normal) I am sure many people have thought why did they do that to their kid? I did it so she could be unique and appreciate that she can stand out. When my sister had a baby 4 months later and named him Jonathan, my very first thought was why would she do that to him? why would she give him a common overused name? To each their own. Neither opinion is any less valid or invalid than the other
I like unique names. However, I think children should have names that they can spell somewhat easily and also names that are NOT gender neutral. That really bugs be when you see a name and don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl. Poor kid.
Hahaha! I’ve wondered all of this myself! I wanted not “common” but not “weird”–of course my favorite boys’ names have been my favorites since before the Aiden/Aidan/Ayden/Aedan trend so my son DOES have a trendy name anyway, but I loved it (Caden) before it was popular like that!
I love unique names, I always have since I was given one by my parents! My first name is actually my mom’s maiden name. My husband and I named our 5 week old daughter Eisley Adeline, so we are keeping up the tradition of different names. That being said, I’d never name my kid something like Pilot Inspektor. =)
My husband and I deliberated for a long time over the name of our son. We wanted it to have a strong meaning. I like unique names, but for sure didn’t want “weird” either. Sometimes you gotta ask what these folks were thinking when they named their kids!
I was always happy with my name (Lynette). Unique enough that I’ve met very few others in my life, but common enough that it doesn’t need second glance.
I agree with the comment that the name becomes the person, it becomes who they are. But I’m still not a big fan of super weird obscure names. I like names that people recognize!
I have a unique name. It’s a beautiful name and I like it. I don’t plan to do that to my children. My main rules for names are that it must be the conventional spelling, it must be a name people recognize, and it can’t be too common. I don’t like the trendy names. Also, names that make me think of women wearing helmets with horns are out–so no Hildegardes or Helgas. My one exception to my rules is that I would love to have a daughter named Jennine, which isn’t really the conventional spelling, but it’s after my grandmother, whose name was Jenna. Don’t steal it, please!
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How did the trend of naming your kid something wild happen in Hollywood? I don’t get it! We stuck with an old fashioned name for our daughter, Eleanor. Ella for short.
for us it got more and more difficult with each child. they are all boys. but we still were able to agree on normal names.
I agree with something unique, as long as it’s pretty
I like more traditional names too, but I guess these kids are always going to stand out anyway, so a strange name won’t make things much worse!
I also tend to lean towards more traditional baby names. But – with famous parents, I think they can get away with it more than I could!
It drives me absolutely crazy. These parents are setting their kids up for teasing and constant corrections of how to pronounce or spell their names. Why do they have to be so off the wall??? I feel bad for the kids.
I don’t know about its being used as a first name, but “Kyd” is a very old last name — back to the 1200s! I’m not wild about it as a first name, but for all we know, it’s an old family name.
My husband and I spent a LOT of time discussing names for both our children and are back to square one for baby #3 on the way. Aside from the “mundane/unique” debate (by the way, we think there needs to be a balance of too common v. what-on-earth-were-they-thinking), it’s very important to us for the names to have a real meaning. What do you tell your child when they ask where their name came from? Do you say “I don’t know, I just liked it” or do you have a story or sentiment that they can identify with? We’ve chosen Biblical names in combination with names of family heritage and feel as though we have named our children well, regardless of other people’s ideas on what we “should” have done.
I figure being the son/daughter of a big star is going to be a tough burden anyway (no privacy) so having a bizarre name on top of that is no big deal. I can get behind Apple and Pilot but Inspektor and Kyd just too off (unless Kyd is a family, as mentioned by Lisa).
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