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The Great Baby Name Debate: Should Parents Choose A Unique Name For Their Baby?

Synka | Feb 18, 2012 | 0 comments

Perhaps the most important thing you will give to your baby, apart from life itself, is a name. So take your time choosing it and try to opt for one that he or she will wear with pride in later life. The first decision is do you look at traditional names, do you go to the other extreme by making up a name, or do you opt for a middle course and maybe choose a traditional name but with different spelling?

The idea of a unique baby name may seem attractive. After all, your child will not need to have an initial after the first name because another child has the same name; and he or she will stand out from the crowd. But other kids can be cruel and the name you think is a great idea could result in your child being teased or bullied. Then, in later life, the only people who will be able to spell the name will be you and his or her spouse!

Dr Albert Mehrabian, well known author of books like the Name Game and The Baby Report Card, is one of several to publish studies that show that people don’t react very well to anything different or unusual, including people’s names.

During the last ten years, Dr Mehrabian has studied how a person’s name effects them. His findings suggest that when compared to a more traditional name, the ratings of unusual names are much lower in every category: for example a person’s happiness, success, and morality. By choosing an unusual name parents think they are being creative and are ensuring their kids are individual. But green hair is individual and having green hair is not necessarily a good idea!

Mehrabian says he has counselled many adults who were ridiculed by their co-workers because of their names, and finds that the more unusual the name the harder it is to adjust.

Johnny Cash’s song ‘A Boy Named Sue’ may have been amusing at the time, but the theory that naming a boy Sue would toughen him up is a fallacy. I knew a man whose middle name was Mary. His parents wanted him to have a saint’s name and for some reason chose Mary. He was ashamed of his name and tried to keep it very quiet.

Maybe there is a middle course? Avoid the really weird. Don’t go down the road followed by Frank Zappa who named his kids Moon Unit and Dweezil – one is a boy, the other a girl; no idea which is which! Or Gwyneth Paltrow who named her daughter Apple. Just imagine what kids in the playground would do with those names. Perhaps as more and more parents choose unusual names the problems will diminish as the unusual itself becomes the norm.

Your baby is already unique, he or she doesn’t need a unique name to be special. Bear in mind that your baby will grow into an adult, so make sure the name you choose will suit your child in later life. Too many cute baby names sound silly when baby grows into an adult.

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