I know people are going to hate this but I think this every time I see certain names

[mooie-ziel.livejournal.com]

I'm not a fan of using children names as a poster board for advertising what hobbies or heroes the parents are into. Example: Lennon, Lennox, Hendrix, Vonnegut, Cash, etc.

It bugs me especially when the excuse parents give is "I'm a huge fan of [insert name]" or "They changed my life!" If they impacted you so much then change YOUR name. If you name your child some famous last name you'll probably just increase the odds of your child hating that famous person since that's what people would first think of and ask questions about. Imagine having to explain all the time why your parents named you Insert Famous Name, and other related questions.*

I know there are always exceptions. I'm sure there are/will be children who love their famous names, or that there are parents who didn't name their child some famous name for fandom's sake. It's when they do use their kid to advertise the parent's favorite musician, author, etc that I roll my eyes and think "Oh well."

Anyone agree?

*I left this as a comment to someone's post but thought to share it since it is a strong opinion I have on names

Comments

[eleanorgrace.livejournal.com]

Also, as long as I'm clarifying things, I didn't mean to say parents should be doing that. Though obviously some do, or this board wouldn't exist.

I meant to suggest in my comment that you can ask for opinions from a variety of sources, including boards like this and/or people whose opinions actually matter to you. By the latter I mean friends and family members who will actually have contact with your future child and its name (or really anyone you care to ask, for that matter).

I don't personally worry about what anonymous people on the internet think about my favorite names, but I do care quite a bit (within reason I guess) about how my mom and dad (the grandparents of any children I someday have) feel about them.

So what I meant by asking people is this: someone likes the sound of the name "Medusa" but has no idea where it comes from or what it means. She asks her parents and siblings, husband, and best friend at work what they think about it. Maybe a couple of them don't know anything about the name Medusa either, but odds are good that someone will say, "well, if you want to name your kid Medusa, here's a story you should know first...". Same with Hendrix or Cobain or anything else. Even if you didn't know who Jimi Hendrix was, if you wanted to use that name and asked even two people what they thought, odds are good that you'd find out pretty quickly what significance the name carries. You know what I mean?