Celebrity/ Pop Culture names

[danne-gerous.livejournal.com]

I went to a graduation ceremony a few nights ago and my ears perked up when the names of fraternal twins who were graduating were announced.

Pfeiffer Michelle & Keaton Michael

Would you ever name your child after a celebrity or pop culture figure? Maybe a fictional character?

Are there any names of famous people or fictional characters that you like but feel the association would be too obvious to ever use for a child?

Comments

[behindgrey-eyes.livejournal.com]

There are probably some fictional characters out there that have cool names and that I admire, but that is just too effing obvious. For example, I really love the name Donald now and I used to really not like it at all. Its all thanks to Don Flack from CSI:NY. There are a few other names I could probably associate with people. Something like a middle name or a subtle first name is fine but those two are just terrible :|

[stormqueen280.livejournal.com]

God, I'd sue my parents.

I'm all for naming kids after cool characters or real people, but you can be subtle while doing that.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

It's great to know that their parents are Batman fans, but that's a bit much. Keaton Michael works a lot better than Pfeiffer Michelle does.

Naming kids after celebrities and fictional characters can be fun, as long as it's not too ridiculously obvious. I have considered the names Christopher and David if I ever have twin boys: first, it was for Christopher Eccleston (Ninth Doctor) and David Tennant (Tenth Doctor) from Doctor Who; now they'd have the added plus of also being named after Chris Carpenter (ace pitcher) and David Freese (third baseman), two of my favorite St. Louis Cardinals players. They'd have normal middle names like Matthew or Peter ;), though, so few people would probably ever catch on.

[shweetnettie13.livejournal.com]

I've long joked with my husband that if we somehow ended up with twin boys, we'd name them Jake and Elwood after the Blues Brothers. I don't know how many people would pick up on that, though.

I've always loved the name Isabelle/Isabella/Bella, and while I've never considered it for any of my future children before, I'd definitely not do it now after the whole twilight saga.

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

Yes, I love the name Ziva from NCIS and Pauley for a girl also from NCIS.

[katsuno-hitomi.livejournal.com]

I have a friend with a 1 year-old niece named Eowyn. The way she tells the story, her brother and sister-in-law were considering that name, but the rest of the family found it a bit on the strange side. At least until the girl was born. Then they all just knew that she was an "Eowyn." I guess what I'm trying to say is that if the name fits, use it.

I've recently been considering the name Korra for a future daughter. Those not in the know would just think it's a "creatyve" spelling of the traditional Cora. Those who are in the know... well, if you know where this icon is from, then you'll know where the name comes from.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Many of the names I like come from popular media in some way or the other, if they aren't family names:

Elliott- Elliott Smith (singer/songwriter)
Gavin- Gavin Rossdale (lead singer of Bush)
James- James Marsters (actor, Spike from Buffy)
Landon- Landon Carter (fictional character, A Walk To Remember by Nicholas Sparks)
Milo- Milo Ventimiglia (actor, Jess from Gilmore Girls)
Nicholas- Nicholas Brendon (actor, Xander from Buffy)
Rhys- wizard from the book The Two Princesses of Bamarre

Briar- Briar Rose (the assumed name of Princess Aurora in Disney's Sleeping Beauty)
Gwendolyn- Gwen Stefani (singer, Gwen is her real name but I prefer it as a nn to Gwendolyn)
Haven- Haven McPhail (fictional character, That Summer by Sarah Dessen)
Iris- song by The Goo Goo Dolls
Lily / Lillian- Lily Aldrin (fictional character, Alyson Hannigan's character on How I Met Your Mother)
Lucy- song by The Beatles
Meadow- Meadow Soprano (I never watched The Sopranos but I loved the name as soon as I heard it)
Willow- Willow Rosenberg (fictional character, Alyson Hannigan's character on Buffy)

[laminy.livejournal.com]

There are a couple fictional characters I would name my kid after. Holden Caulfield, which probably is really obvious, but I still love the name.

Other than that, Veronica (Veronica Mars); Clark, Alexander, Lois (Superman); Shoshannah (Inglourious Basterds).

But oh my god, I am laughing my ass off at Pfeiffer Michelle and Keaton Michael. Horrible. Horrible!

[bingybingy.livejournal.com]

Angelina. I love the name, but Angelina Jolie. I like Jolie too. I should have twins and name them Angelina and Jolie. Then I should be high fived in the face with a chair.

Isabella/Bella used to be one of my favorite names. Then Twilight.

[audiobiblio.livejournal.com]

I'm LOLing at those, and I don't really have any issues with using pop culture references/celebrity names. They used the WHOLE names of these people. And Michael Keaton isn't even his real name!

Lennon was on my list of boys' names this time around (I'm a big Beatles fan) and we ended up choosing Calvin (we both love Calvin and Hobbes). And my number one choice for a girl was Arya/Aria after the character in A Song of Fire and Ice/Game of Thrones. I was concerned about the actual spelling of her name and it looking like a reference to Aryan culture, so I sort of preferred the other spelling (which has an entirely different meaning, but whatever). Oh, and Astrid was on my list and that's after the character from the book White Oleander.

[audiobiblio.livejournal.com]

Don't you hate that? I mean, it's one thing to use a name to reference something that you LIKE. But when you like a name and it becomes popular because of Twilight, it sort of ruins it for you. And Twilight is full of a lot of rad names... Cullen, Emmett, Alice, etc.

[audiobiblio.livejournal.com]

Lucy and Jude were on my list for the same reason!

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

I feel exactly the same way about those two names. Evidently, Jolie was originally her middle name ("Angelina Voight" does sound kind of jarring, flow-wise). I think she's alright, but I couldn't use either because my parents like to disparage her and that might somehow get passed to a child with either of those names.

Ugh, Twilight. At least it made my grandmother's name (Rosalie) relevant again.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

I love Clark, Alexander, and Shosanna. Inglourious Basterds is what made me fall in love with the name Hugo---it suddenly seemed cool and badass after that movie.

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

My favorite boys' name is one I got from an actor in a show I really like. I've come to totally love the actor, but that's not why I love the name. It's just where I first encountered it and it grew on me. So if I ever get a chance to use it, people who know me well will know where I got it, but I wouldn't actually be naming the child for the actor.

I haven't yet encountered the combination of a character I love with a name I love enough to use to name a child for the character, but there are names I have gotten from various fandoms. That's not to say I wouldn't name a child for a character if I found one that was really special to me that I thought had a great name. That said, I would not name a child for a celebrity. I don't like the idea of naming someone for someone you don't actually know.

So many names can be considered "pop culture" names on some level because so many names have been used, but I don't think something is a pop culture name just because it has been used by someone in popular culture. I don't think that a name becomes a true pop culture name unless it is something unusual that many people would recognize as relating to something specific. I mean, lots of people are named James without it having anything to do with the Buffy actor, to use an example from a comment above. However, if you name a kid Sherlock or Katniss...well, people will pretty much know, won't they? Although, that's not to say that a boy named James can't actually be named for James Marsters. I'm not trying to say the other commentors comment is wrong or anything. Common names can still be pulled from popular culture and be considered naming after someone.

[aislincalum.livejournal.com]

Then I should be high fived in the face with a chair. made me giggle!

[aislincalum.livejournal.com]

I have no words for that. All I can do is shake my head.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Well, to be perfectly frank, James was a name I liked before I started watching Buffy. However, when my boyfriend saw the list he automatically said "Oh after Spike" which wasn't a link I had made, but I have become a huge fan of his so I used it. Same with Nicholas. For whatever reason, using those justifications worked more than "Oh I just like that name" for my boyfriend. He wants there to be a reason which I agree with to an extent.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, my best friend (also a huge Beatles fan) named his dog Lucy (his other dogs are Dixie and Napoleon). So I probably won't use it, but I still love the name.

[twitchywoman.livejournal.com]

I'd actually use some names like Alice or Esme because I loved their characters in Twilight.

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

I see. I hope you didn't take my comment as offensive or argumentative. I was just drawing a blank on celeb names and you had a whole list right there. Oh, and for the record, I adore the name James. :)

[behindgrey-eyes.livejournal.com]

I was thinking how awesome a name Korra would be a for a potential daughter of mine too 8DDD Tensin is awesome too :)

[behindgrey-eyes.livejournal.com]

I concur about Twishite. I really really reeeeeaallly love the names Edward and Esme, but OMFG, they will now forever be associated with that tripe. I like Charlie too but thank god thats pretty popular on its own.

[imamaryanne.livejournal.com]

Oh that is awful!

I got both of my sons names from characters in a novel by my favorite author, Michael Chabon. Grady and August. My husband and I rarely agree on books, but we birth adored Wonder Boys.

[imamaryanne.livejournal.com]

*both* adored.

[fangirlism]

Evidently, Jolie was originally her middle name ("Angelina Voight" does sound kind of jarring, flow-wise).

Yup, she dropped the Voight and made her middle name her last name after a falling out with her father, Jon Voight.

[fangirlism]

One of my sisters and I are both named after soap opera characters (myself after Erica Kane from All My Children, my sister after Kayla Brady Johnson from Days of Our Lives). The names are subtle enough that no one catches it right away, but once it's explained (I explain it more than my sister does, lol) it's a light bulb moment.

If I was going to name my children after celebrities/pop culture references, I'd go the same subtle route, or use it as a middle name (Quentin Nickolas, the Nickolas after Nick Carter, has been on my list for a long time.)

[becomingun.livejournal.com]

Not AFTER a pop culture person, but like, Laura Linney is my idol and I can see using the name Laura, just because I like it more because of her. But kid wouldn't be named after Laura Linney. In the same vein, I'm Georgia because of Georgia O'Keefe, but not IN TRIBUTE to her. My mom is Marilyn because of Marilyn Monroe, but also not AFTER HER.

I would totally name my kids after Shakespeare/fictional characters, but not after a celebrity.

I would totally use Calvin(Calvin and Hobbes), and a LOT of Shakespeare names. Two favourites are Hero and Thisbe.

[jerseygrits.livejournal.com]

I don't think I would name a child purely after someone famous, but I could see it being an additional positive association for a name I also like on its own.

Your last question perfectly describes how I feel about Hermione. I love the name, and it's grown on me immensely over the past few years, but I don't think I could use it. The Harry Potter association is a good thing in that it has familiarized people with the name, and the character herself is a great role model, but the association is just too strong and too specific. I feel like every time I told someone her name, I'd be bracing myself for the reaction ("Oh, like in Harry Potter!!"). My husband has already preemptively vetoed it for that reason. :P

I feel like celebrities are different from characters in that once a character is written, she is not going to change, and you can't say the same thing about a living person. I read a recommendation somewhere (probably from Laura Wattenberg) not to name a child after a living celebrity because you don't know how that person's image is going to change in the future. The more common the name is and the less it's associated with a specific famous person, however, the less important that rule probably becomes. In the case of a very common name, even if the celebrity who shares it does something terrible, people probably won't immediately have that association, and it's not something you would even have to mention/explain if you didn't want to.

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

I was named for the Fleetwood Mac song "Sara" but everyone always sings that other terrible song to me, or makes Sara Lee jokes. It would have been cooler to be named Stevie after Stevie Nicks (although her name is Stephanie which I don't like).

My cousin will deny it to the end, but I'm pretty sure she picked Darrien after Sailor Moon. Savannah, I'm not sure where she would have gotten it from.

[sparklymoon.livejournal.com]

Actually her unborn daughter is SO LUCKY to not be named Mariah lol... then again my cousin named her cat Mariah so maybe that's why.

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

I would not name my children after a celebrity, but there are some celebrity names that I like (like Adele, although I don't know that I would use it. Maybe as a middle name). I actually would like Keaton as a name without knowing the origins/joke, and honestly, I think the joke is funny.

Part of the reason I want to give my hypothetical son the middle name Charles (or my hypothetical daughter the first name Charlotte) is because my children's last name will be Brown, and I loved Peanuts as a kid. The name's not immediately obvious, especially with Charles as a middle name. Also, Charles is my father's first name so it would be to honor him, but I think it's hilarious. (May not be a joke my kid can appreciate, but at least I'm not naming them Tallulah does the Hula or something).

I also love the name Cordelia. Although I think many people will recognize that Shakespeare made the name famous, I don't think enough people will associated it with Shakespeare.

Other than that, none of the names I really like are associated with celebrities. I've toyed with using Janet as a middle name (see icon), but I'm not overly fond of it. I do think it would go well with Olivia - Olivia Janet. Cool.

[roseofjuly.livejournal.com]

I actually love a lot of the Shakespearean names that were used as moons of Uranus: Cordelia (one of my favorite names), Cressida, Desdemona, Ophelia, Margaret, and Titania. And oddly, I like Caliban, but Caliban was an antagonist in the Tempest, so...