Kids' Names

Jonah started kindergarten this week. I haven't really written about it because he wouldn't let me take his picture on the first day and he's been a bit grumpy and moody all week. He doesn't like change. I'm thinking things will get better as time goes on.
Anyway, to the subject of my post.

I asked Jonah today if he's made any new friends in his class. He already knew a few of the kids from church and preschool. He told me that he did make new friends, but he could only remember two of their names. So I asked what their names are. He replied, "America and Nauvoo." Jonah said, "Nauvoo is a silly sounding word, Mom. How do you spell it?" I told him and he still thinks it's a silly word.

This little conversation got me to thinking about names when I was growing up. I was raised in the era of Jessica's, Jennifer's, Amy's, and about a zillion other Ashley's. The boys all seemed to be named 'Josh' or 'Jason' or 'Micheal'. I remember there were 4 or 5 Ashley's in my kindergarten class and I don't think I ever had a class where I was the only Ashley. So I guess that's why a lot of people are now obsessed with giving their kids "unique" names. This seems to be accomplished in a variety of ways. They name their children after places, like America and Nauvoo. Or they spell their name in a "different" way, such as Jaxsun(seriously, I saw it on a class list) Deighton, or Taeler. Or they use words spelled backwards, like the ever popular "Neveah". Or they just use words that are associated with values, like 'Honor' 'Charity' and 'Chastity'.
Then you get the celebrities who pick all kinds of "different" names for their kids and then fans decide to name their kids the same thing. Like "Apple" "Bronx" "Zuma Nesta Rock" or "Audio Science"(yeah, you can look it up).

So, do any of these parents consider whether or not the child will like their 'unique' name? The child is the one who has to live with it, spell it for everyone, and explain it to everyone. I remember a girl in my 4th grade class whose name was Chevrolet. The poor thing was teased mercilessly.

There's an episode of my favorite sitcom, 'Friends', that sort of deals with this topic. Phoebe and Mike have just gotten married and Phoebe goes to change her name. She finds out that she can change it to whatever she wants. So she picks 'Princess Consuela Banana Hammock' because it's fun to say and no one else has it. Mike is not a fan of the new name and to illustrate his point, he decides he's going to change his name to Crap Bag and makes Phoebe introduce him to people as such. Needless to say, she gets the point and changes her name back. Funny episode.

Anyway, back to the baby naming thing...call me old fashioned, but I just don't get it.
I wanted unique names for my kids too, but I went more for the traditional but not over used. Although, since naming them, I see kids with their names everywhere. Funny, because before they were born I'd never run into a little Jonah or Lilly or Jayne, now they're all over the place. Go figure.