h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

You could always ask the child themselves what name they want... unfortunately this could have three possible outcomes:
1. You ask the child at birth and it's called Gurgle Dribble Cry.
2. You ask the child when they're old enough to sting a sentance together and it ends up being called Bum Willy Poo Head.
3. You ask the child when you think they'll be old enough to make a mature decision and their name changes every week depending on which soap stars are in or out of favour.

Well you have to name them something in the meantime, so why not leave it to them to change their name in later years. They won't change it that often, its a lot of paperwork and it costs.

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Isn't that what the parents do anyway...choose the latest soap star name?

Maybe the sytem should be set-up that each child born is just allocatd the next name on a long circular list none of which are stoopid.

I believe Hindus give their kids a middle name dependant upon what period during the year they are born. They go to their priest(?) and get a number of suitable ones. It all sounds very clinical.

.........and what do you do if the Priest has a twisted sense of humour and he calls your child Fudge McTickle?

Having this discussion with spouse at the moment, for a male child due for June.

Spouse does not want a name that is too common, on the grounds that it's irritating for the kid to have a name that they share with three others in their class. She also wants to pay attention to what it is shortened to, and what the initials stand for. My surname starts with an S - having SS as initials is possibly a bit harsh?

I am not keen on future son having a weird name. Some of the ones on this thread... well, each to their own eh?

In addition as my wife is French and I am English, the name needs to work in both languages - Peter is a good example, as it means 'to fart' in French (pronounced differently, but still...)

Narrows things down anyway - I think those books with a thousand and one names in are clearly an invention of the devil - no wonder the poor kids end up with a ridiculous handle when you choose from one of them.

sprout

Or if, indeed, the priest has a cold? There must be several kids in my parents village whose middle name is "haruph-cough".

I remember one of my primary school teachers saying about the rise in nicknames being given as full names. Sometimes with completely original spellings. There was a Vikki in my year, and that was her name, not Victoria or anything.

Oh, and what's with the rise in popularity of Freya? Or various spellings thereof. I'm not even sure where it has come from. I mean, I know where the name comes from, but not where people are picking it up from. seems to be from all sorts of walks of life. Has there been a Freya on some soap or other popular programme over the last 10 years?

My cousin has named her youngest Arwen. I suspect that several other people may have gone for that one recently.


Geggs

There's a Freya North who writes popular books which seem to be about strong-willed but indecisive women who sleep around (Mrs. D owns some of her books).

There's also the Freya who was the Norse goddess of love, fertility, beauty and battles.

You'll find a lot more Freyas in Scandinavia and families who follow the Northern Traditions.

"There's also the Freya who was the Norse goddess of love, fertility, beauty and battles"

and the hearth.

But yes, that is where it comes from originally (I think the Goddess probably predates the authoress ). And I do wonder about these girls in adolescence. "Hi, so, Freya, you're named after the Goddess of love and fertility then?"

Well, if you're concerned about initials, you should also avoid the following combinations: AS, BS, NS, OS and PS.

What about Cary? Or Lucien? I hardly think you'd get four other kids with the same name in a class...

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Gets about a bit, doesn't she?

Phew - glad Mr and Mrs Moose decided to call me "Intelligent". I'd hate to have a silly name...

What's wrong with NS?

I think it provides a nice window into the collective human psyche, and at the same time challenges our preconceptions about free-will. Parents often give their offspring names that they *like*, but that liking also seems to be subject to shifts and trends. Names like Chloe, Caitlin, Ben, Josh (and possibly Freya?) are extremely popular at the moment - not soap stars names as far as I am aware - but currently trendy. Parents don't consciously choose them because they're trendy, but because they sound nice, and the reason they sound nice is because they are in vogue. I would estimate that about 80% of the kids in my daughters class have such fashionable names.

Mummy and daddy Dreadful decided to call *me* 'Mr.' for some reason.

well at least Mr. is more imaginative than mine!

As for naming for popularity, I guess there is also the cases where people want something completely different, something no one else has chosen, so you get a sudden rash of Freya's (in theUK anyway) or some other name and the very fact that up till then it was extremely unusual leads to its trendyness and over use.

Fact is though, no matter what name you choose, kids are inventive enough to find a nickname, be it a shortening, a rhyme, a fictional (or otherwise) character's name. And if you sit down carefully and think about it to make sure that there are no possible ways for their name to have negative connotations, I guaruntee you that either you forgot something, or that society changes in the meantime thus invalidating all your hard work.

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It stands for National Socialism (Nazism, basically)

ah, yes, was I the only one wondering what was so bad about No Smoking?

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=It stands for National Socialism (Nazism, basically)=

Well, that and the poor kid will probably have to endure taunts like,

'You're NS... you're an ass... Geddit? Geddit? Bwahahahahaha!'