What will you name your baby? That question is one that most parents take very seriously. Much consideration goes into choosing a name for a newborn. It is understandable that parents want their child to have a unique name. Perhaps this is why many parents in 2014 selected a random word as the name for their babies.
Nameberry took a close look at the names parents gave to their babies in 2014. They put together a list of baby names that are words. In short, parents chose a commonly used word, that has a specific meaning, as the name for their baby.
Eight boys were named Awesome in 2014. Were the parents inspired by the “Everything is Awesome” song in the LEGO movie? Are these parents people who were teenagers during the 1980’s when the word awesome was used to describe almost everything?
Giving a child the name Awesome could potentially grant that child a burst of self-esteem. No matter what he does – he will always be Awesome! The dictionary definition for awesome is: causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear. Hopefully, boys named Awesome won’t grow up to inspire fear.
Five girls were given the name Eliminate in 2014. The word has several meanings, none of which are pleasant. Eliminate means to exclude, completely remove, or get rid of something. It is also a synonym for the word murder.
Why would parents give their baby girls the name Eliminate? The best answer I can come up with is that they hope their daughter will grow up and eliminate cancer, or eliminate hunger. This is a stretch, though! Most people aren’t going to see the potential bright side of this name.
A total of 22 baby boys were given the name Halo in 2014. Perhaps this name was selected by parents who see their son as a little angel. When looked at this way, the name sounds quite heavenly and lovely.
On the other hand, Halo is also the name of a popular first person shooter video game that involves killing off one’s opponents while screaming horrible things at them. My concern is that 22 parents named their child after their favorite video game, and got away with it because their spouse viewed the name as something holy.
26 baby girls were given the name Indica in 2014. It sounds kind of pretty, if you have absolutely no idea what the word means. Indica is one of the two main types of marijuana. The other main type of marijuana is called Sativa – a name that was given to 14 baby girls in 2014.
Parents who made these choices are making a statement (whether they intended to or not). They are either making it clear they enjoy the drug they chose as a name for their daughters – or they are broadcasting their complete ignorance of what that pretty sounding name actually means.
Image by Brian on Flickr.
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