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What's In A Name?
Recently I read an article on Yahoo! which stated that Fall Out Boy heartthrob Pete Wentz and pop/rock princess Ashlee Simpson-Wentz named their son Bronx Mowgli. I'm not sure whether my initial reaction was more pity for the kid or wonder at why the couple chose to name him after the hood in New York (he's from Illinois, she's from Texas), and the boy in Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book".
Why do people name their kids the way they do? Sometimes the child is given a family name, or they are named after a person or place that is significant to the parents. Oftentimes a child's name is chosen because the parents simply like the way a name sounds.
Names don't seem to mean as much now as they did in the past. In the Bible, a person's name reflected his personality or some other characterisitc of him. Today we know less and less about the meaning and origin of names. Does this mean that names are losing their significance?
Over the years I have collected miscellaneous note cards, bookmarks, etc., with the meaning of my name printed on them, which according to varied sources is "loved one", "cherished one", or "pure one". But my parents chose to name me Kara not because of any of those things, but because my dad had said that if they ever had a daughter, he wanted her name to be Kara. So that's my name.
There are several names that I would take into consideration for the children I hope to have someday. A couple of them remind me of other people, but most of the names I just like. Should I research the meaning behind the names? Maybe, but that might be difficult and unreliable, especially since I like sort of trendy names. Even though the meaning and origin of a name might be unknown, will I think twice before naming a kid something really trendy? Most definitely. I'll just remember Bronx Mowgli Wentz. :)
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This article has 10 comments.
My name means ''crowned'', I'm not sure how that can fit into my personality, but oh well. I'm big on name meanings too, but even though celebs are nameing thier kids these werid names, some of them sound intresting. I mean that's proberbly one of the reasons why, cause they sound intresting and unique. But yeah, most of them are proberbly going to change thier names when thier old enough.
I wouldn't mind having the name Apple though ;)
Seriously, these kids will end up changing their names.
Between Blanket, Satchel, Apple and Pilot Inspector Lee these names are getting ridiculous.
My name means "Lamb"...my parents always thought that they named me wrong because I'm very loud and hyper. But then we actually owned four sheep and then they discovered they named me correctly :P
But the meanings behind the names are definatly important. And if you're naming a kid after someone, that person's characteristics are also important. A woman at my church wanted to name her daughter "Delilah", but wound up not because "Delilah" in the Bible is deceitful.
I think meanings (like Jacob, for example, means "Deceiver") and characteristics are incredibly important...so Mowgli is dumb...Bronx in kinda cool, but it reminds me to much of Bronco...