Celebrity Baby Names
I always find it a bit amusing to see what modern-day celebrities name their little unassuming children. I remember a few years ago when Courteney Cox & David Arquette named their daughter Coco. “Coco? I guess that’s interesting,” I thought. It’s either going to remind people of perfume or chocolate cereal, but what it makes me think is that she’s the daughter of a very famous Friend. (That Monica Geller can name her kid anything she wants! According to one site, Coco comes from Courteney Cox. Makes sense to me!) So, Coco it is, and she’ll pull it off, too! The more I hear it, the more it sounds completely everyday, like, why aren’t more girls out there named Coco? But could I get away with naming my child something like that? Not hardly. Thinking about introducing my daughter “Coco” to, well, pretty much anyone makes me laugh inside. (Sidenote: If I followed the “Arquette formula” with my own daughter, her name would be Dace. Hmm.)
By now, you must be thinking of little Apple Martin, one of the most famous head-scratchers of a celebribaby name. I think it’s cute. Or maybe you’re thinking of Pilot Inspektor, who is the son of Jason Lee. The “Lee formula” is simple: any profession + any misspelled profession = unique celebribaby name. Try it! Here’s mine: Cable-Guy Teecher. It even has a touch of irony! In this celebrity baby-naming world, you can also take any unexpected noun and use it for your baby’s name: Camera. Puma. Seven. Denim. Audio Science. (Those are real ones.) Again, I’m convinced that these names only work on the famous, where audacity in baby-naming is not only common, it’s expected. Case in point: Nicole Richie named her new daughter Harlow Winter Kate. Harlow is beautiful, uncommon, and dramatic. But just in case it wasn’t enough, they threw in “Winter”. I didn’t even bat an eye at this. That’s just what they do, those famous folks!
Funny thing is, after scanning this list, I noticed a couple of my top boy/girl picks from the past! And no, it wasn’t Daisy Boo for a girl and Banjo for a boy. We long considered Ava & Milo for each of our kids, respectively, until we chose to go in a different direction.
Which I guess means that not all celebribaby names are completely unusual. Levi, Gulliver, Truman, Rafferty: these are really pretty cool. Intellectual-chic. Any one of them could also be the lead-singer of a rock band. And some celebribaby names are just downright sweet: Violet Affleck and William Huckleberry Paisley are a couple of my favorites.
I think it’s easy to make jokes about this topic because the celebrity moms & dads out there have complete control in deciding what to name their children. So when they go the nutty route, it’s like an invitation for us to laugh a little incredulously. Right? Tell me I’m not the only one!
For more on the topic, or to see other notable celebribaby name choices, check out:
Recent Starbaby Names at The Baby Name Bible
Celebrity Baby Names Blog (one of many!)
a little off-topic, but fun just the same (a great gift idea!)
Coco Arquette’s imdb page! (for real)
Do you pay attention to what celebrities name their kids? Have you named your child the same thing as a celebribaby, either on purpose or by coincidence? Which ones are your favorites, and which names make you say, “They named him/her what?!”? Happy weekend, and for good measure, be sure to share what your kid’s name could be, using either the Arquette or Lee formulas!
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My favorite — random Hebrew word, like Shiloh or Suri.
While Apple and Pilot Inspektor a bit far for even me, we were very very close to naming Connor, Ryder. We decided that we just really loved Connor though, and stuck with it. I LOVED having an unheard of first name growing up, so I think that’s why I leaned toward unique names. I can’t wait for J Lo’s, Jamie Lynn’s, and Brangelina’s kids names. I’m guessing J Lo is going to go traditional with her kids names and Jamie Lynn will be choosing a southern name for her baby. Brangelina, you just don’t know. I think their naming style is “unique” without going WEIRD!
We’re thinking about naming our next son “Plumber Loyer” and our next daughter “Pediatrician Casheer” (we’ll call her Tricia).
Arquette Formula: AmEs or AmDu
Lee Formula: Zoo Keeper Dokter
Christina Aguilera just named their son Max Liron. Max is a normal and unconventional names. I have never heard of Liron.
My husband and I were pretty close to naming a son Thor (pronounced like “Tour”) after our favorite Norwegian Tour de France cyclist Thor Hushovd. I am also a quarter Norwegian. But we got over it. A part of me still thinks it is cool.
ShaBa or ShaMi? Mmmm, I don’t think so.
How about Gardener Nurce?
Another fave: “Nevaeh;” it actually became super-popular one year b/c someone from POD had a kid with the same name. And of course, it sounds pretty.
I think Loyer could be a real name in the not too distant future…it has that “middle y” thing that a lot of kre8tive parents really dig.
Following the Cox-Arquette example , our children would be named MeCe or AdDro (or Adro?).
Using the Lee formula, we get Manager Repourder.
A mom on a blog I read named her daughter Pilot (cause it’s her life!)…a little too out there for me!
I think the craziest celebrity baby name I’ve heard is Moxie CrimeFighter. The sweet, beautiful daughter of Penn Jillette. You know… Penn & Teller. His son is Zolten Penn. Nice huh?
There was a girl on my college golf team named Crystal Chanda Lier.
It’s so wrong…
Usually I’m a lurker but I had to chime in- I work with a lot of little kids and I have actually met 2 kids (girls) named Abcde, pronounced Ab-se-dee. I think it sounds kinda pretty…different, anyway.
I have some friends who are doctors now but when they were in med school they ran into the Abcde name too.
I have never heard of that (“abcde”). It’s amazing.
Riding in my car last week the radio host was talking about this very subject. He mentioned many of the names here. Jermaine Jackson(from the Jackson 5) named his son Jermajesty. That totally cracked me up!
A little girl in a Kindergarten class that I subbed in was named FunKe(pronounced fun kay) I thought that was awful of her parents to do that to her.
I wonder if any of these kids will grow up and change their names?