Baby Boy Names

One of the interesting things about teaching is that I encounter very, shall we say, creative names of students. It used to be true of the South, but I think this is true everywhere in the States now. There's a sustained trend of giving children the most unusual names, so much so that pronouncing the child's name can be a source of embarrassment for both teacher and student. Setting aside the Antwans, there is, for instance, a Rah-sun in my school. Now, it's not that hard to pronounce, I admit, but it takes some getting used to since most of the time, I encounter Rashuns. After years of saying "Rashun" the tongue trips over the unusual "Rah-sun". Yes, the dash is part of the name. There is another child with the name Che'Kelvia. I don't understand the apostrophe. Apparently, the nomenclature is a combination of both father and mother's names.

Apparently, there's now a new trend-within-a-trend in naming baby boys. The hook? Defining a new masculinity. Riiiight. I say, it's more of the same feminizing of boys. Reject it, people! Stick with masculine names for boys. Don't get sucked into this oh-so-cool trend. Better yet, name your child after a saint!

I say up with Anthony! Patrick! Richard! Down with Cullen(puh-leez), Jax (Jacob is just fine, thank you very much), Jett (good grief!).

Here's the article describing the new trend.

"Rejecting the top names of the past century, more and more parents are choosing gender-neutral boys' names. Baby name expert Pamela Redmond Satran, co-author of Beyond Ava & Aiden, on how the new trend reflects a different ideal of masculinity."

Read the article here.

Here's a radical thought: Let's let boys be boys and girls be girls. Blurring gender lines doesn't make us sweeter or more peaceful or more human.

More modernism foolishness.