Baby Names Blog

England cricketer Andrew “Freddie” Flintoff and wife Rachael today announced the birth of their third child - a boy named Rocky.

Weighing in at 8lb 9oz, Rocky Flintoff can’t thank boxing legend Balboa for his name - the couple settled on the Rocky simply “because they liked it.” Still, I’m sure Freddie wouldn’t object to his son becoming a similarly heroic sportsman.

Freddie, aged 30, already has his the names of his wife and first two children, Holly and Corey, tattooed on his back - Rocky is set to join them shortly.

“Andrew is busy training and Rachael starts working on her new project, a fitness programme which advocates a sensible and simple approach to healthy eating and getting back into shape while juggling the many demands of family life.”

Congratulations to Freddie and Rachael on their new born Rocky! Let’s ask our readers - what do you think of the name? Is it too well associated with the movie?  And what about the Rock + Flint geological connection?

The United States government today unveiled plans to restrict budding parents to a selection of just 1,000 names for their new arrival - 500 boys names and 500 girls.

The scheme mirrors that put forward in Venezuela (nytimes.com) in 2007, where a spate of wacky baby names provoked a government intervention.

A list of the 1,000 allowable names can be found on the Social Security Administration website. Unbelievably, staple names like Lee, Duncan and Ann will be outlawed when the Act comes into force early 2009.

The move comes after the celebrity baby naming culture has gone bizerk, inspiring hundreds of parents across the US to name their children with awful monikers. Only recently, Hollywood actress Halle Berry named her newborn daughter Nahla Ariela Aubry. Berry will thank her good timing, as all these names will be rejected at birth registration offices.

Bloggers have reacted fiercely, calling the move unconstitutional. SSA representatives refused to comment on this allegation.

A Welsh couple have used their interest in mythology to help name their six children, creating a family whose names are legendary to say the least.

Elaine and Tony Romaeo are the proud parents of six children aging from zero to twelve. In age order, they line up as:

Romeo Casanova Valentino (12)
Venus Valentine (11)
Angel Aphrodite (10)
Isis Ise (3)
Achilles Spartacus Mars (2)
Caesar Augustus Constantine (not yet born)

Mrs Romaeo said: “There’s enough boring normality in the world so we decided to draw inspiration from Roman, Greek and Egyptian history to name our children.

“When the new arrival comes in four week’s time he will be named after three Roman emperors.”

Which of these name combinations is your favourite? I personally find it easier to pick my least favourite. Achilles Spartacus Mars is the worst for me - the combination of foot anatomy and gladiator-slave, garnished with a chocolate bar/planet, is too much for me to handle.

“The look on the registrar’s face is always a picture when we tell them the names we’ve chosen,” quipped Elaine.

My suggestion for child number seven - Zeus Minotaur Ra.

Source - BBC

Christina Aguilera named her baby boy Max Liron, while Nicole Richie named her daughter Harlow Winter Kate.

Once again, there is no change at the top, with Jack the number one boys’ name. Thomas also retains his second place slot with 5803 boys sharing the name in 2007. The only movement in the top five is the exchange of places between Joshua and Oliver to third and fourth respectively, with Harry remaining fifth.

Jayden, which is now the 32nd most popular boys’ name, has been climbing steadily since its appearance in the top 100 in 2004.

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The most popular baby names in Scotland this year have been revealed. Lewis has returned to the top spot for boys, pushing last year’s winner, Jack, into second place, the Registrar General for Scotland said.

For girls, Sophie is the most popular name for the third year in a row with Emma remaining in second place. Third is Lucy and fourth is Katie.

Meanwhile, the biggest climbers in the 2007 baby name charts were Jayden for boys and Summer for girls.

The Telegraph today features an article on Mohammed’s assault on the top boy’s names in the UK. The name, when all variants are added together, is just a few hundred from top spot.

Mohammed is on course to become the most popular boys’ name in England and Wales by next year.

The high birth rate among Muslim families mean the name is set to overtake the current favourite name for baby boys, Jack.

An analysis of names compiled by the Office for National Statistics shows that when the different spelling variations of the name are added together, it is just a few hundred off the top place.

It’s interesting to consider the effect that one’s name, or label as it were, has on day to day life. Names can certainly cause people to stand out, blend in, appear masculine, feminine, intelligent, sporty or even nerdy.

The question is, do names have a more profound effect on one of the most fundamental of human pursuits - that of education? Research published last month suggests they just might.

“Using 15 years (1990–2004) of grade point averages for business school grads, they found that students whose names began with C or D earned lower GPAs than those whose names began with A or B. The Carters and Dorns performed worse than average (based on students with grade-neutral initials such as M and N); the Ashes and Bakers didn’t do significantly better than the norm. The former had such “an unconscious fondness for these letters, [they] were slightly less successful at achieving their conscious academic goals than were students with other initials.”

So according to that logic, Astara would be a great choice for those looking to seed their child’s academic prowess.

Robert Rodriguez. A fairly normal sounding name, boasting alliteration of the double-R’d kind. Not much to see here. Or so I thought…

…Until today, however, when I discovered the famed director’s love of the letter R. See below:

Rocket,

Racer,

Rebel,

Rogue,

Rhiannon.

A random list of words from the same section of the dictionary? The cast of a superhero flick? Nope - Robert Rodriguez’s kids.  All I’ll say is that Rhiannon got off lightly!

A recent post over at TeamSugar features a great compilation of celebrity baby names, including some gems that I hadn’t come across before.

Pirate
Jonathan Davis, lead singer of Korn’s son

Tu Morrow
Rob Morrow’s daughter

Reign Beau
Ving Rhames’s daughter

Moxie CrimeFighter
Penn of Penn & Teller’s daughter

Jermajesty
Jermaine Jackson’s son

Satchel
Woody Allen & Mia Farrow’s son

Dweezil
Frank Zappa’s son