Couple in China try to name their child @

@Rollo1 (16679)
Boston, Massachusetts
August 17, 2007 8:12pm CST
A couple in China have applied to name their newborn son "@", the ubiquitous symbol in every email address. According to the couple, the "a" and "t" can be pronounced to mean "love him". Gwenyth Paltrow and her husband Chris Martin named their daughter Apple. George Foreman named all four of his sons George, after himself. Strange names run in the Phoenix family with River, Rain and Leaf. My weird name prize goes to actress Shannyn Sossamon who named her son Audio Science. Do you think that celebrities who give their kids weird names are doing them a disservice? Frank Zappa's kids, Moon Unit, Dweezil and Ahmet, all have been fairly successful. Do you know of other weird celebrity kid names? Which one do you think is the weirdest?
3 people like this
16 responses
@Se7enth (170)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Also recently, a couple tried to name their child '4 Real' except the government would not go for a number as a first name. They had chosen the name because they could believe the mom was preganant until they saw the ultrasound and the child was 'For real.' The have now decided to name the child 'Superman.' God help this kid growing up with a name like that. 7 BTW this wasn't a famous couple either.
1 person likes this
@Se7enth (170)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Nick Cage gave his kid the name Kal-El which is the Kryptonian name of Superman. Even that would be a bit better than Superman, itself. 7
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
I remember seeing that story. They lived in Australia or New Zealand I think. I think either name would cause the kid trouble, but Superman is just asking to be beaten up by schoolyard bullies. Why not celebrate the child's arrival with a regular name that means miracle or something. A baby name book would probably yield something suitable.
@Malyck (3425)
• Australia
18 Aug 07
As an Australian, I very much hope that this couple were from New Zealand! =P Yeah, it really is asking to be beaten up, or have the kid's "powers" tested. I think if parents are going to give their kid an unusual name, they could atleast be a bit creative and come up with something original and interesting, not change the spelling or name them after a super hero. Then again, that's just my opinion...
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Here go a list of people either naming their kids or something else in an unusual fashion, or they changed their name to something unusual. And others who were actually named normal, but due to obvious circumstances they ended up pretty screwed. Named Kids ESPN God Shammgod (ugh...) Harle Quinn Smith (yea...batman...) Joker Arroyo Kal-El Cage Keldorn (Yea from Baldur's Gate 2) Metallica Zowie Bowie Changed names Jesus Christ - some guy in 2005 did this Megazone - yes the same guy who used the user name Super Mario - some guy in 1990-2000 did this Sony Playstation - some guy obsessed with the console Tomer.com Tuesday Weld @#$%! - a city tried to change it name to something like this Screwed names Ima Hog Rudy "Long" Johnson (Mom wanted Long, Dad wanted Rudy. Sigh...)
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
Well at least David Bowie left his kid an out. He named him Duncan Zowie Bowie and I hear he goes by Duncan and uses his father's real last name of Jones. I always said, if I were going to change my name, I would pick Marlon Brando, cause he's not using it anymore.
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Good point on the Bowie thing. The other really made me double-take when I read them/heard about them. If I ever changed my name... maybe I could go with Kefka Palazzo? I'm sure there's no harm in that right?! [insert wacky but sinister laugh here]
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
19 Aug 07
I like some of the celebrities names. They are different and that makes it neat. I feel a parent should be able to name their child whatever they pleace. Have you heard about the couple that wanted to name their newborn "4Real" but the judge was against it and now they are trying to name their son "SUPERMAN" and are waiting to see what the judge thinks of that. Here is the link... http://www.indianpad.com/story/84418 I wouldn't name my child "4Real" or "SUPERMAN" but I won't stop someone from wanting to do it. It's their child. And I think SUPERMAN is kind of cute, in a funny kind of way. LOL!
@Foxxee (3651)
• United States
19 Aug 07
I feel a name doesn't really have anything to do with the parenting skills. You can still be a great parent even if your childs name is way off the wall. And I don't think a name will cause a bad future. But, that is just my opinion.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
19 Aug 07
Part of being a parent is being responsible for the nuture and care of the child. That includes thinking about their future. The child does belong to them, but it's not the same as owning a pet and you can't take the liberties with names that you can with a pet. These are human beings for crying out loud. I have a morbid distaste of indian pad due to some prior blogging exposures. It's too horrible to relate. Worse than being named @.
@teleios (737)
• Philippines
18 Aug 07
man, names have never been my favorite thing. i guess its pretty amusing though, seeing all these people naming their kids whatever that comes to mind. i guess with all the people in the world, parents are now looking for ways to make their kids unique, stand out from the LArrys, mikes, johns, etc...the @ name is really unique. first time i have heard of that one. i wonder if others will follow suit?
• United States
19 Aug 07
Teleios, it is really hard to name your own children. For me it was anyway. You have to consider so much. Is it too hard to spell or pronounce? Will he be made fun of? Things like that just come to mind. My kids have "normal" names. I don't see how someone can name their kid @.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
I hope they won't make it a trend. But he won't have trouble learning to spell it at least.
• China
18 Aug 07
just a signal ,i think
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
I am changing my name to O¿O
@glenniah (1197)
• Mandurah, Australia
18 Aug 07
Hi Rollo. If I may digress I would like to mention ordinary people, (that is not celebrities), who have strange names for their children. I work on a team of professionals including speech therapists. We are often amused when children are referred for speech therapy because they have stuttering or other speech problems. Often their names are hard to pronounce, and I can understand why they have difficulties. I wonder how people in the far away past managed when they signed their name with an X. Seems easy but how confusing it must have been. Glen
1 person likes this
@theprogamer (10534)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Indeed. I cant wait until we start seeing name attempts like "(^^) Morrison", "X-) Smith", "XrBobrX Barker".
@Malyck (3425)
• Australia
18 Aug 07
Alice Cooper named his daughter "Calico" after the fabric (which is pretty darn plain if you ask me), and she has also adopted his stage last name, and thus is Calico Cooper. Frank Zappa's children's names are some of my favourite! =D I don't think it's just celebrities going outrageous with the naming of their children, I once saw a woman on a lifestyle show whose name was "Repellis", pronounced 'repel-us'. Now if that's not a disservice, then I don't know what is! =P Although, I don't really think that someone's name should affect their chance of success or their enjoyment of life. I myself have a fairly unusual name and used to be made fun of as a child, but it never bothered me because I knew that there was more to me than just my name, and I quite liked it. I built a lot of character through my experience, and I'm sure these kids will too. =] Interesting discussion, keep it up Rollo! Malyck.
1 person likes this
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
Frank Zappa's kids have all done well for themselves, but even if you are a privileged kid from a famous family, you still must wonder "what were they thinking?". My name is fairly popular now but when I was a kid, no one shared my name. (Rollo isn't my real name, lol) I think I disliked being so different then, but I grew to appreciate it. However, I don't know if I would have grown to appreciate it if my name were Moon Unit. Thanks for the great response, Malyck.
@wisconsin26 (3859)
• United States
19 Aug 07
I read that actually... I thought why would someone name their child @ or at in that matter... The parents say it means love him but does it really?? (giggles) I know I won't name my child at.. It would confuse him so bad.. Or even saying his name would just seems strange...
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
19 Aug 07
I don't know how strange "@" sounds in Chinese, but why people do these things? I really can only come up with one answer. They're morons.
@suzieque (2334)
• Canada
18 Aug 07
My cousin's name is Man, because it was translated directly from his Chinese name pronounced mun-foong. Man is definitely a weird name, but since I called him that since I was 5 years old, you just get used to it.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
Names from other languages that are anglicized often end up being very similar to English words, but they are at least names and not symbols. I mean, @ is one thing, but why not ? or % or ** or any other symbol? You could go crazy but is it good for the kid to be THAT unique?
@kakuemmom (859)
• Canada
18 Aug 07
I think it is cruel to give your children weird names celebrity or not. These children have to live with these names and other children can be so cruel. Now my kids all have normal names but each have a nick name. They are cute little names that we and only we call them parents should really think about the future for there children before given such strange names. As for the @ symbol for a name that is just crazy.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
Nicknames, especially terms of endearment used within family groups promote a sense of warmth and belonging. But every individual has to have a name they can go out into the world with and so naming your children is a serious task. I agree that it is cruel to give them oddball names. Name the kid something normal like Mary and if you want to call her Peaches Honeyblossom at home, that's okay. Just don't make her put it on her license.
• United States
19 Aug 07
Anything to be in the news, I think. You see there was a discussion started on here about it, and you guys mentioned that you had also heard it on the news. I think they are so attention addicted that they use the naming of their child to get that extra attention. There was plenty of discussion about Tom and Katie's daughter Suri, and that's not even that strange. Celebrities just want to be different and noticed.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
19 Aug 07
AS I understand it, the aliens told Tom to name her Suri and Katie always does what Tom tells her to, including being a surrogate mother for the leader of the first wave of invaders.
@Ricko82 (584)
• Philippines
18 Aug 07
I don't know of any other weird name of celeb's kids, although I know a girl from college that had a cute name. Her name is You Really Love, add to that her last name Mosende, it will read "You Really Love Mosende". But sad to say that she isn't fit to wear her name because she wasn't lovely at all. LOL....
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
I wonder if I could manage to be lovely if I had to live with that name all my life. Besides, she was really set up, wasn't she? It's like naming your kid "Smarter than you" and now the kid has to live up to it.
@Daelin (683)
• Brazil
18 Aug 07
I think parents should think how the life of their son will be in the future. Call him @ will bring lots of problems. As for Apple, I don't think that girl will be teased at school since her mother is famous and so she will be in the future. I remember that girl that was Punky. Her name was weird too, Soleil Moon. But she was so famous that no one really cared. As for the sons of George, I am sure they have a middle name. In some countries is common to give the same first name to all children. For instance you can find Maria Luiza, Maria Antonia, Maria Eduarda, etc... Anyway, I have to agree with you. People are getting crazy with those weird names. I just learned about a boy whose name is Disney. Weird uh?
@Daelin (683)
• Brazil
18 Aug 07
I saw her another day on E!. She was presenting some event. Anyway, I agree. Yellow is way too much.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
Maria can have a lot of variations, like Maria de los angeles, etc. Yeah but where is Punky Brewster today? George's sons are named George II, George III, etc... Apple is probably the most normal of all of them. But this is from the guy who wrote a song called "Yellow".
@Aghorri (86)
• United States
18 Aug 07
You don't have to be a celebrity anyway. I wanted to name my first son Ob but my wife wouldn't let me. Why Ob? Because then I could have given him the middle name Stinnet and his full name would have been true of the whole family. :D Strangely enough, that son who so narrowly avoided being called Ob is now known as Mad. My other two kids are Boogie and the Pootle. All true, I swear it.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
Did you change the middle name to Scientist?
• United States
18 Aug 07
D'you know, I never thought of that. But now you've got me thinking...
• China
18 Aug 07
It's very interesting. If I had a child, I will like to give him a special name, which is the only one in the world. Because he/she is the only one for me.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
Special is good, weird is bad. At least, to my way of thinking. A name is something that shapes at least some part of your life, and remember, some of these kids are going to have to get jobs. Can you imagine what a prospective employer thinks when he gets an application with some of these kinds of names?
@coolmailraj (2460)
• India
18 Aug 07
Hi. Its funny. I don't remember any celebrity from my part of the world naming their child like that, and i certainly don't like it. It seems weired to me. Celebrity kids do get lot more attention than what children of their age do and there is no need to attract someone by naming them like that.
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
I agree. You'd think they'd want to give them regular names so their lives would be more normal as they will already be in the spotlight just because of who their parents are.
@ranitam22 (1146)
• United States
18 Aug 07
Yes they are, I think that these celebrities get so wrapped up in trying to be different and stay ahead of everyone else that they don't think of the child in the long run. I read somewhere that a celebrity's child (I want to say Demi Moore), one of her children wanted to have their name legally changed. It's sad to think what it is like to be in school and have the teacher call on little Audio Science or Moon Unit. What were these people thinking? Maybe they have great nicknames...
@Rollo1 (16679)
• Boston, Massachusetts
18 Aug 07
I don't remember all the names of Demi Moore's children but one daughter is named Rumer. I definitely think that celebrities think they are being very different and cute with these names, but I agree, they aren't really thinking of the kids. It's the kids who have to live with these names.