What’s in a Name?

On Tuesday the BBC published an amusing story about a “child-naming craze sweeping across western Kenya.” Parents there are naming their children after popular political figures such as Kofi Annan, Raila Odinga, Barack Obama  and Graca Machel. The article points out that some parents bestow these names upon their kids simply because they admire the politicians, while others believe that their baby will “adopt the traits of the person it has been named after.”

The article got me thinking about naming trends worldwide. In Ghana for example, it’s still common to name children according to the day of the week on which they were born (If you meet a boy named Kofi, you’ll know that he was born on a Friday). Like anywhere else, some names are trendy at the moment. When I was teaching kindergarten outside of Accra two years ago, I had two girls named Princess and a boy named Prince in a class of twenty. Coincidence? 

Back in October, The New York Times did a fun article about naming in Zimbabwe: “In a Land of Homemade Names, Tiffany Doesn’t Cut It.” The article explains how some Zimbabweans get names like Godknows, Givethanks, and Never Trust a Woman. There’s definitely some carryover for names like these. I’ve met people in Tanzania and Ethiopia whose names translate to English as “blessing,” and “love.” 

Here in the United States, the trends are easy to spot if you work with kids. I can’t tell you how many children I’ve met with the following names: Madison (girl), Aidan (boy), Noah (boy) Emma (girl). Please don’t give your child one of these names, because they will be lost in a sea of similarly named children!  Another trend of late, is naming kids after products: Mercedes, Armani, Nautica, L’Oreal. Personally, I think that’s gross. 

My own family is big on passing down names. My dad is a “jr,” meaning his father’s name was passed on to him. He’s not so big on that, and it can get kind of confusing at family gatherings to have two men around with the same name. My younger brother is named after my mother’s father, and my middle name is the same as my aunt’s first name. Ahhh! 

I guess I shouldn’t complain about naming trends too much, because my own name was in the top ten most popular girl’s names the year I was born. Good luck guessing which one it is: Jessica, Jennifer, Amanda, Ashley, Sarah, Stephanie, Melissa, Nicole, Elizabeth, Heather.

If you’d like to share the story or meaning behind your name, please do!