Thursday, August 27, 2015

What's in a Name?


You may have seen this article on CNN yesterday: The Most Popular Baby Names Are ...

The Social Security Administration publishes an annual list of the most popular baby names because ... well ... why not? You can read the list for 2014 at their website here, and you can read my comments below.

First of all, I note with great satisfaction that William is the fifth place male name. I'm sure it would be higher on the list, but we Williams* are generous fellows, and don't like to show up everyone else.

The first-place male name is Noah ... a fine name which happens also to be the name of my youngest grandson.

On the female name side, the fifth-place name is Ava ... a beautiful name which is also the name of my youngest granddaughter. Emily, in seventh place, is the name of my beautiful little niece in Germany.

The CNN article also offers for comparison the most popular baby names in the United Kingdon, where Ava comes in at number six on the list for girls and William at number ten for boys. Noah, sadly, doesn't make the top ten in the UK, although Tyrion (from the popular character in the books and TV series "Game of Thrones") is said to be popular.

The names we give to our children are important, because they'll have to answer to them for a long time. I wrote a cautionary post on this topic back in 2013, which you can read here. To all my friends who are pregnant or may become pregnant in the future, think carefully about the name you choose ...


Have a good day. Come back tomorrow when we will announce the name of our Left Cheek Ass Clown of the Month ... whose name does not appear on either the US or UK top-ten list.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Yes, my real name is William, but you can call me "your eminence." Or my other preferred title, about which you can read here. You can read about my search for a suitable coat of arms to go with the title here.

7 comments:

eViL pOp TaRt said...

Giving a baby the name is very important. Try for a name that is suitable for adulthood. After all, he or she is going to use it as long as he is alive.

Atomic Dog said...

Good advice about naming.

Mike said...

And never call your kid by their middle name. When they get to social security and medicare age they will suddenly revert back to their first name whether they like it or not.

Elvis Wearing a Bra on His Head said...

Wise advice regarding names. I often get odd looks with mine.

Linda Kay said...

We have a Noah in our family, and I named my oldest daughter after the book Heidi. The younger daughter is Angela (Angel for short), and her father used to say she was the most miss-named kid.

allenwoodhaven said...

William is my official name too. Allen is my middle name. It can make things confusing, but it's worth it.

Anemone said...

My name is unusual, but it suit me.