What's in a name?

According to babycenter.com, the most popular baby names of 2012 for boys are Liam, Ethan, and Mason.  For girls it’s Emma, Olivia, and Sophia.

To most, these are great, easy to say names.  But what if you’re looking for something with a little more pizazz, or something that stands out?  For many parents, this can lead to mixing and matching or perhaps even creating their very own baby names. 

Many have family names that have been around for generations or want to honor a family member with a name that is no longer common.  These are valid reasons to opt for a less traditional name, but for me some parents just take the cutesy spelling just a bit too far.

Every parent is free to name their own child whatever they please, as for me, I want to name my child something that can

A. Be easily pronounced

B. Be easily spelled

C. Will not have to be repeated several times when introduced.

I don’t think that’s terribly difficult, but a quick Google search proved that I may be in the minority.  There are atrocities such as Trulee, which sounds like an illiterate stripper, Promyss, the strip club where you would meet said stripper, and Symphani, something you may contract from her if you were so lucky.

As if those were bad enough, the roll call continues.  We have several takes on Honesty.  I can completely understand that parents would want a noble name for their child, I’m thinking Abraham not Aunisty, which to me sounds like part of a war treaty.  Also found were Onesty and Honestii……sigh.

Other parents must have a yearning for their kid to go to jail.  Names such as Patron, Juvenal, Innocent, or Gotti should help their cause.  Why not name him/her Inmate 2323229?

Also to be considered is our child’s adult life.   In an ideal world, no one would be pre-judged by their name, but if you name your child Blaze I would go out o a limb and guess that his resume is getting tossed.  I’m also fairly certain the following sentence isn’t said out loud very often: 

Hello Blaze, thank you for coming in today.  It says here that you graduated top of your class? 

Lastly, I would be sure to say the name out loud.  Kids like to tease so it has to be taken into consideration.  Let’s say you want to name your child Harry however your last name is Butts, you may want to go with something else. Perhaps Chase would work.