What is it with celebrities and baby names? While the rest of us gravitate towards classics like Jacob, Ethan, Michael, Isabella, Sophia, and Emma, famous actresses, musicians, and sports figures tend a bit more toward the (how to put it delicately?) unusual.
Case in point: The British soccer star who just named his son Trendy. The Peterborough United defender Gabriel Zakuani has explained that, yes, it had something to do with "'trending topics' on Twitter," but mostly it was because his wife works in the fashion industry. (Please, no one tell him that by their very definition his kid's name will soon go out of style -- if, in fact, it was ever in style.)
But little Trendy Zakuani is hardly alone on the weird baby name front. This year alone has brought a bumper crop of cute celeb-spawned kids with peculiar names.
Here are the 10 weirdest celebrity baby names for 2011 (so far):
1. Bear Blu Jarecki: Clueless star Alicia Silverstone named her son, born in May, a name that's adorable ... for a dog or a favorite stuffed animal.
2. Diesel Dean Daigle: Did Olympic softball star Jennie Finch and her husband, Casey Daigle, name their son, born in June, after an engine or a brand of jeans? Were they inspired by celebrity offspring like singer Toni Braxton's Diezel or Frank Zappa's Dweezil? Or were they just looking for a name that would fit right in with their elder son's moniker, Ace Shane?
3. Phyllon Joy Gorre: You might have guessed that the name Dutch Victoria's Secret model Doutzen Kroes and her DJ husband Sunnery James gave their adorable son, born in January, was, if peculiar here, common the Netherlands. Nope, pronounced "Fillen," as in "fill in the blanks," it's actually just the male version of the name ... Phyllis.
4 and 5. Moroccan Scott Cannon and Monroe Cannon: As if it weren't questionable enough that Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon named one of their twins, born in April, after the Moroccan-themed décor in their New York City apartment, they have nicknamed them (wait for it) Roc & Roe. No, seriously!
6. Aleph Portman-Millepied: Yes, the name of Natalie Portman and dancer fiance Benjamin Millepied gave their son, born in June, is Aleph, which is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. To be fair, though, Portman was born in Jerusalem to an Israeli father and American mother, so at least she has a genuine cultural claim to the name.
7. Kase Townes Murray: The singer Jewel and her professional bull-rider husband, Ty Murray, gave their son, born in July, the name Kase -- that's presumably pronounced "Casey." Not one for the creative spelling, myself.
8. Bingham Hawn Bellamy: Actress Kate Hudson and her rocker husband Matt Bellamy named their son, born in July, after relatives, which is sweet, but I dunno, I'm not feeling "Bingham."
9. Abraham Selassie Robert Nesta Marley: Nothing specifically wrong with the names Ziggy Marley and his wife Orly Agai selected for their son, born in January -- it's the sheer number of names that's alarming. Anything over three or four names just seems like overkill.
10. Journey Jameson Gomez: Admittedly, with a father named Taboo (of the Black Eyed Peas), I guess this little boy, born in April, could have had an even weirder moniker. His name continues a family J theme: brothers Jimmy Jalen and Joshua, mom Jaymie, and dad (real name) Jaime.
What do you think of these celebrity baby names?
Image via jetsandzeppelins/Flickr
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Comments 58
I'm NOT a Mariah Carey fan, but I think her babies' names are adorable, as are the nicknames.
Phinneus, Sparrow, Apple, Harlow, Moses......
What I think is sad is that when these kids get older and Google themselves, they're going to find all these catty women snickering over the names their parents gave them. Not directing this to any of the commentors of this post, but to the author of this post, and the authors of, and some commentors on other posts, particularly here on The Stir. I mean, really, how do you think that's going to make those kids. I happen to have given my daughter a name that is unusual in the US. Her name is Marika (pronounced Mareeka) and she is named after her Ukranian great-grandmother. Yes, we got some questioning looks when we named her, but, I must say, the name absolutely suits her, much more than any "normal" name like Sophia and Emma would have.
@ butterflyfreak- You are so right. And I adore your daughter's name, very beautiful.
@Meri Temudo-Tassielli- I wish I had gone against my friends and family and named my son exactly what I wanted to, but I made a slight change to the first name so that ppl would be happy with a "normal name". My two daughters have unusual names and I wanted to continue the tradition with my son. If he was a girl his name was going to be Enigma Kaye... but instead I went with Ryan James (Was going to be Orion James)
Being creative in naming your children should't be looked down on as crazy or dumb. It shows you have character and want your child to be unique, not just one of the dozen or so or the kids named the same thing in their grade. When I went to school there were no less than 4 girls with the same name as me in my grade, so we all had to go by last name initials... thank goodness none of us had the same initial starting our last names!
*shouldn't* >_< typo
Aleph or Alif is also the first letter of the Arabic Alphabet : )
hmmm I've always loved the name Journey and have known more than 1 child named it in real life.
WOW, I gave DD a common name Jessica <3