Yes, I'm Going There

I admit that I hold back on a lot of things on my blog for fear of offending people. I tend to overshare some things on my blog, but generally avoid making the kind of snarky judgements that other people can get away with on theirs. In real life I'm actually fairly judgemental but usually keep it to myself or complain to my husband when no one is listening. There's one issue that I know everyone is opinionated about and I've been scared to say anything for fear of offending: baby names.

What is up with the things some people name their kids? The Social Security Administration just released their list of popular names from 2008, and the website is an awesome place to waste your time. I will refrain from sharing too many of my opinions, but there are a few issues I really want to complain about. I randomly looked up a few states to compare their most popular names and was not surprised by the results (for example, Angel is the number 3 name in California). What I didn't really expect was the popularity of the name "Nevaeh" in Oregon. There were 79 babies named Nevaeh in Oregon in 2007 alone! What is up with that? You want to know something even scarier? 14 people in the same year had the bright idea to name their twins Heaven and Nevaeh. Wow. At least I know two names I can cross off my list because they are apparently getting way too popular.

Comments

Courtney said…
I always laugh at the name Nevaeh. When my parents were teenagers and were dating, my dad gave my mom a baby duck named Nevaeh (and then her neighbors dog ate it, but that's beside the point). I just think it is such a funny name for a human!
5/10/2009 8:41 AM
Samantha said…
I'm thinking now of all the backwards words that would make funny names--Yay! This will come in so handy as a distraction during our "eulogize the perfect mom because you're not one" day!

I will start with my word verification word: elbaf...which I will name my cat, if I ever have one.
5/10/2009 8:59 AM
Desmama said…
I wonder about names sometimes too. I shouldn't get smug but I do when I find people whose kids have some of the most popular--"too bad for you, sucker!" Then again, my kids names aren't totally unheard of either.

So go ahead. Go there. I'll go with you (if I'm not there already).
5/10/2009 10:58 AM
M said…
:-) I love Nora's name so much we had a hard time finding a good name for baby...I think James will work. It's growing on me.

I agree with your baby name issues....my rant lately is the Braden/Cayden/Aiden etc conglomeration that's taking over the world!
5/10/2009 2:00 PM
Lindsay said…
Oh, I am so on this same page. And with the name Nevaeh? There was once a baby contest sponsored by the local newspaper in our Indiana town. I swear, and I kid you not, half of the girls who entered had that very name. I tried not to laugh....but I couldn't help myself.

I'm not very big on the whole "creative-name-creative-spelling" thing. Maybe I'm traditional in the extreme, but I'd hate for my kids to be constantly correcting people on how their names are spelled.
5/10/2009 2:35 PM
Earth Sign Mama said…
My sister was the attendance clerk at a big high school in Salt Lake City for 18 years. She could tell you about weirdo names...I'm just sayin'
5/10/2009 4:26 PM
Emma said…
I've heard some interesting names, And I'm just a classic kind of girl. So I guess those names just don't appeal to me. I don't understand why people give their children weird names, but they aren't my kids, so whatever. I don't make fun of them in front of my kids, but I might mention it to my husband.
And I don't like to use the popular names either. I purposely dumped the name Jacob for Timothy because it was the #1 baby name at the time. However that being said - I love my name, but 30 something years ago there weren't very many Emmas, now it's #1. Oh well.
5/10/2009 5:02 PM
skyeJ said…
what kind of crazy wierdos name their kid Skye? hee hee...
5/10/2009 8:31 PM
Celia Marie (W.) B. said…
So I totally didn't notice that Nevaeh was heaven backward until you talked about the twins. Wow. I am baffled by this.
5/10/2009 8:56 PM
Carina said…
I'll go there with you:

Some people have lost their damn minds.
5/11/2009 12:32 AM
Mary said…
I decided when I got married to give my kids easy, traditional first names. They will go throughout life spelling their last name for people!
5/11/2009 7:44 AM
Julie said…
Totally agree! Eric Snider did a funny Snide Remarks years ago about how crazy Mormon/Utah names are! Just pick a good, sensible name for heaven's sakes people!
5/11/2009 9:42 AM
Kristi said…
There was a girl in my school in IL named "Nova" - apparently her mom was high and the avon lady stopped by and she thought it was the Nova lady.

My question is this: how in the world do you pronounce this silly Nevaeh name? I say, if a regular person can't pronounce a name correctly on the first try, the name shouldn't be used. My rule used to be if the name wasn't on a mug at Disneyland it was a no-go, but now weirdo names are showing up at Disneyland, too.

And then I get all racist about it, too. I don't think any white baby should be named LaShawnda or Shaniqua. Personal preference, of course.

Have you seen the Utah Baby Namer website? Also fun.
5/11/2009 5:52 PM
Kristi said…
Just played on the SS website a bit more. Nationally, the 95th most popular girl's name is Genesis. Why, people??? I guess you can call her Jen, but then are you going to spell it "Gen?" Because that's pretty silly.

(Hmmm, apparently I'm feeling vocal today. Sorry about that.)
5/11/2009 5:55 PM
rantipoler said…
Yikes! I'm all for less common names, seeing as how my own is really rare, but it's so easy to cross over from the uncommon to the strange and downright ugly. Also, I admit that I have wasted many hours on that site looking up names for imaginary future kids!
5/16/2009 10:15 PM
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