Friday, January 14, 2011

Despite Pope's disapproval, designer baby names flourish

Last year’s slate of odd celebrity baby names offered some gems for new parents who want their children to stand out from the crowd. 

They included Canadian singer Alanis Morissette, who named her daughter Ever Imre, and British chef Jamie Oliver, who christened his son Buddy Bear Maurice.

Researchers from the University of Michigan have found it’s not just celebrities who are opting to give their children unique names. 

North American parents are increasingly passing over traditional names in favour of something more unusual, prompting the Pope to snub designer names and encourage parents to choose Biblical appellations like John and Mary as a way to imbue their children with their faith.

Children begin to acquire the character of a son or daughter of the Church “starting from a Christian name,” said Pope Benedict XVI — who was christened Joseph — as he baptised 21 infants in the Sistine Chapel on Sunday, marking the feast of Christ’s baptism.

Traditional names are “an unequivocal sign that the Holy Spirit gives a rebirth to people in the womb of the Church.”

That prompted the Italian media to warn parents of the perils of not naming newborns from the Bible, despite the fact that most Italians still tend to name their children after saints.

It’s a different story in Canada, the United States and Australia, where parents are more likely to give their children unique names compared with their European counterparts in Denmark, Austria and the U.K., a new study in the journal Psychological Science found.

Researchers theorized that frontier countries such as Canada were founded on a need for independence from the old world and while the frontier spirit may have faded from contemporary Canadian culture, our penchant for unusual names has only grown stronger as the Canadian identity has matured. 

Provinces that were settled more recently, such as Alberta and B.C., were more likely to give their children uncommon names compared with Eastern provinces, which were settled earlier.

“You’re not going West on a wagon anymore, but those values of individualism and independence are still reflected in the culture,” says study co-author Michael Varnum. 

“The message is that frontier settlement still has contemporary consequences.”

The phenomenon has exploded since the 1990s, researchers from San Diego State University found in a 2010 analysis of the names of 325 million babies born between 1880 and 2007. 

Parents started straying from more common names in the 1950s, but the shift toward more unique names really began in 1983 and has picked up speed only in the past 20 years.

“It’s a question of a culture’s most important consideration: giving a child a common name so they can fit in, or giving them a unique name so they can stand out,” said study author Jean Twenge.

Psychologists have long noted that names, even common ones, can have significant cultural and social implications. 

A 2000 study from the University of Ohio found that people tended to associate traditionally masculine or feminine names with certain careers. 

For instance, the study found most people felt Hank would make an excellent plumber, while Emma would be a good nurse. 

The research came with a warning for parents: What you name your child can determine what they will become.

Edmonton’s Dana Coombe, a new mother with long ancestral roots in Canada, says the name she’d long wanted for her child — Aiden — was quickly shelved when it became too popular.

“We really didn’t want our son to be in a situation where there were eight other kids with his name in the class and you had to use last initials,” said Ms. Coombe, who alongside husband Jesse ultimately chose the name Ryker — which, according to BabyNameWizard.com, was only given to roughly 200 of every million babies born in 2009, compared with nearly 4,000 Aidens.

“We really liked the fact that Ryker sounded manly and wasn’t common. And no, we did not get it from Star Trek.”

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