What’s In A Name?

What’s in a name? Is it the pronunciation? The spelling? The popularity? The meaning behind it?

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the baby monikers of famous celebrities. The most recent chatter surrounded Beyonce and Jay-Z’s daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. The explanations offered for this unique name was that Blue referred to Jay-Z’s signature color and Ivy represents the Roman numeral IV, which is a significant number for the powerful couple.

Baby Carter isn’t the only celebrity baby with a noodle-scratcher for a name. Pop star Gwen Stefani and husband Gavin Rossdale named their two little tots Kingston and Zuma Nesta Rock.

The famous couple must have been smoking ganja when they turned to Jamaica and Zuma Beach, which happens to be a beach in California, for some baby-naming inspiration.

Celebrities aren’t the only ones giving their kids freakish names. There has been a new trend of baby names throughout the U.S.

Strange or unique are what people are going for, but they seem to have forgotten that these children have to grow up and get jobs. The name may seem cute when they’re little, but adults named K’La or LaChardonnay or J’Kwan are not people that corporate America would take serious.

It’s okay if people want to be different, but parents should realize that a name is a part of person’s identity and when someone’s identity is questioned they’re given a hard time.

Sad to say, but that is the society we live in.

America may be a huge melting pot, but it’s not so gung-ho about unique names. People are quick to stereotype others based off of a name. I’ve heard too many stories where employers have thrown away applications because of unique or “ghetto” names and they automatically felt they would not qualify for the job. I’ve also heard people who received bad service from an employee makes comments such as “they live up to their name.”

I’ve even heard people refer to unprofessional staff at an establishment as “Shaniquas and Shaquandas.”

A lot of unique names have negative stereotypes attached to them and one person can’t break it just because they want to stand out. Parents should think about the big picture and not about the moment. Their child may be teased at school, prejudged, or automatically face unfair bias because of their name.

I mean it is the first thing you find out about a person when you meet them. The first impression is the last impression.