Names and Nasty Parents

In our hunt for a nice baby name, we've come across some weird names (and weirder parents).

A judge in New Zealand made a young girl a ward of court so that she could change the name she hated - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii.

Judge Rob Murfitt said that the name embarrassed the nine-year-old and could expose her to teasing.

He attacked a trend of giving children bizarre names, citing several examples.

Officials had blocked Sex Fruit, Keenan Got Lucy and Yeah Detroit, he said, but Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Midnight Chardonnay had been allowed.

One mother wanted to name her child O.crnia using text language, but was later persuaded to use Oceania, he said.

'Social handicap'

The ruling, in the city of New Plymouth on the North Island, was handed down in February but only made public now.

The name issue emerged during a custody hearing for the young girl - who had refused to tell her friends her name and went simply by "K".

Source: BBC

I can't imagine what these parents were thinking. There was another lady (who obviously never read the Bible) who wrote in a forum that she named her daughter Jezebel because she liked the sound of it. It's like naming your child Cruella D'Vil or Hitler Ho. Closer to home, there's a toddler somewhere in Singapore who's first name is Ninjaturtle. Yes, Ninjaturtle is one word.

There are lots of things to consider when choosing a name:

• Meaning
• How it sounds - feminine / masculine / sweet / harsh
• Famous personalities associated with it (Beyonce Ho?!)
  
• Whether the grandparents can pronounce it (Believe it or not, many Chinese-speaking people can't pronounce "Serene". I've been called "XueLing", "Selene", and "Sally Pong"!)
  
• How likely it is to be mis-pronounced by strangers
  
• How it sounds in Singlish ("Elizabeth" is a beautiful name but "Ee-lee-zher-berf" isn't!)
  
• Whether it sounds like a rude English / Chinese /Hokkien phrase (We considered "Emma" till we realised that "Emma Ho" sounds a lot like "I'm a 'ho")
  
• Whether it will result in bullying / teasing (Heidi Ho!)
  
• Whether the initials spell something silly (H.O. Ho)
  
• What her future business email might look like! (oho@company.com)
• Whether she can find herself easily when she Googles her name! :)
  

On top of all that, choosing a unique and cute name may actually give your child an advantage. So you have to find something slightly weird, but not too weird.

Children who have been given strange names by their celebrity parents tend to do better in life.

New research suggests that odd names such as Princess Tiaamii or Peaches can be an advantage.

Certain sounds in a name or links with royalty can make people seem more successful, lucky or attractive, according to psychologist Professor Richard Wiseman.

His team polled more than 6,000 people to determine their perception of certain names, as part of a study to launch Edinburgh International Science Festival.

People called James and Elizabeth are seen as the most successful, Jack and Lucy the luckiest and Sophie and Ryan the most attractive.

But Lisa and Brian are the most likely to fail, Helen and John are the unluckiest and Ann and George are the least attractive.

Mr Wiseman said: "Traditional names with royal associations are viewed as highly successful and intelligent.

"Attractive female names tended to be soft-sounding and end with the 'ee' sound, whereas the sexiest males names are short and much harder sounding."

Source: Sky News

After looking through thousands of names, the one Panliang and I like best is "Arielle". It means Lion of God and it sounds gentle and feminine. The only concerns are that it might be TOO feminine, that it might be mispronounced, or worse, that she might be teased about whether her brother's name is Times New Roman or Wingdings!