# 'Weird' celebrity baby names that are not (weird). **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 13, 2012, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426 "2012-01-13T20:23:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/61 "2012-01-19T04:40:44Z")
Actress Barbara Hershey and actor David Carradine had a son they named “free.” When free was about 12 or so, he asked his mother about his name. She told him they named him free so he would have no preconceived notions or expectations based on his name. He wanted to know if he had to keep the name. She said, no, that was the whole idea, he was free to do as he pleased. She wanted to know if he would like to change it. He said, “I kind of like the name Tom.” Honorable mention goes to George Foreman, who named his sons George Foreman, Jr, George Foreman III, and George Foreman IV. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/62 "2012-01-19T05:07:41Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Actress Barbara Hershey and actor David Carradine had a son they named “free.” When free was about 12 or so, he asked his mother about his name. She told him they named him free so he would have no preconceived notions or expectations based on his name. He wanted to know if he had to keep the name. She said, no, that was the whole idea, he was free to do as he pleased. She wanted to know if he would like to change it. > > He said, “I kind of like the name Tom.” Along the same lines, “Papa” John Phillips named his son Tamerlane the Great. As soon as the kid reached his teens, he leafed through an almanac, found that “Michael” was the most common name for boys, and immediately changed his name to Michael Phillips. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/63 "2012-01-19T18:29:02Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Honestly, I doubt having a weird name is that big a factor in how well a kid fits in with his peers. … All else being equal, odds are pretty good that this kid’s going to have very little trouble in high school. Meanwhile, some kid with the sensible name of “Richard” will go through four years as “Dickhead,” because he’s fat and dresses poorly. Fair point that kids who are bullied are bullied for other reasons, the names just make easy targets. But I still think there’s more than a bit of “good natured” fun gonig to be made of that name. Of course, in a class with Jer’Majesty, Apple, and Audio Science, a kid named Kyd (or Destro) is going to fit right in. Or at least have counter ammo. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/64 "2012-01-20T04:03:29Z")
i too find the objections against the name Apple odd. what about these names? plants: Apple, Cherry, Lily, Rose, Daisy, Jasmine, Ivy, Violet, Heather, Ash… months: April, May, June… stones: Ruby, Jade, Opal, Crystal, Amber… places: Madison, Lisbon, Montenegro, Carolina, Dakota, Bristol, Sydney… that was fun. i wonder if there’s more? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/65 "2012-01-20T05:20:59Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > i too find the objections against the name Apple odd. what about these names? > > plants: Apple, Cherry, Lily, Rose, Daisy, Jasmine, Ivy, Violet, Heather, Ash… > months: April, May, June… > stones: Ruby, Jade, Opal, Crystal, Amber… > places: Madison, Lisbon, Montenegro, Carolina, Dakota, Bristol, Sydney… > > that was fun. i wonder if there’s more? Stripper names mostly. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/66 "2012-01-20T05:42:16Z")
there must be a lot of strippers in the US then, since some of these names are among the most popular names in 2011 in the US - including Madison in the top 10, a street name taken from a movie. ---
**Author:** ![tim-n-va](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim-n-va/32/3001_2.png) [@tim-n-va](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim-n-va)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/67 "2012-01-20T11:14:23Z")
Not really anything to add except that a comedian made a joke about Apple and the teasing the poor girl would get at school: “Ha-ha, your dad is in Coldplay”. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/68 "2012-01-20T12:51:11Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > there must be a lot of strippers in the US then, since some of these names are among the most popular names in 2011 in the US - including Madison in the top 10, a street name taken from a movie. Yes there are. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/69 "2012-01-20T20:19:14Z")
The thing is, to a large degree the “strangeness” of a name is precisely because of familiarity. Cherry, Lily, Rose, Daisy, Jasmine, Ivy, Violet, Heather, etc are common enough names that they don’t scream weird, whereas Apple is not a common name, and thus is not in the “name” category. So you encounter it as a name, and think “that’s weird”. But if you go back to childhood, a lot of names were strange when you first encountered them. I remember the first time a knew a Sean. “That’s not Shawn, that’s Seen.” No, you don’t get to tell other people how to pronounce their own name. But there’s a difference from just unusual and pretentiously silly. Just think “the artist formerly known as Prince”. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2012, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/70 "2012-01-20T22:35:07Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > How many people do you think really know that? How many kids are going to recognize that? No, that boy will get all kinds of shit. > > “Hey, you’re Destro. Let’s play GI Joe and beat up Destro.” > “It’s Dest_ry_.” > “Everybody Destroy Destro!” > > That makes it slightly less stupid than just a cutesy spelling of “Kid”. Still, nobody is going to know that, and all the “kids” at school are going to give him hell. You think high school is going to be fun for “Kyd”? > > Nonsense. Sure, there are numerous similar ideas of common words used as names, but those have tradition behind them. “Apple” sounds too much like what is packed in the lunch bag. “What do you have for lunch, Apple?” “No, I got a pear.” “I wasn’t talking to you, I was talking to Apple.” “You talk to fruit?” “She’s Apple.” “You’re named after fruit?” It’s like you think these kids are retarded or something. Those conversations are dumb. No one talks that way, and some super rich celebrity kid isn’t going to have a lot of trouble in school. Fuck, ya’ll, where do you think names come from? Someone has to make this stuff up. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/71 "2012-01-23T21:25:54Z")
So I’m lousy at artificial dialogue. And analogies. They’re still [del]dumbass[/del] unusual names, and somewhere along the line someone is going to point that out to the kid. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/72 "2012-01-23T21:50:34Z")
Given that my daughter’s class included a Ya-Ya, a Wa-Wa a Princess Tinkerbelle (with the e), and a Vaishakhi (unusual because it’s the name of a festival, not because it’s a foreign name - there are plenty of those) I know from personal experience that kids just kinda stop noticing ‘unusual’ names when there are so many of them around. These kids’ll be fine. > [@VOW](#): > > Honorable mention goes to George Foreman, who named his sons George Foreman, Jr, George Foreman III, and George Foreman IV. > ~VOW He went right up to George IV, and also named one of his daughters Georgetta. Bizarre in its megalomania, but at least they all have nicknames too and the name itself is fine. > [@RickJay](#): > > Hey, how did we forget Rob Morrow’s daughter? Her name is Tu. Think about it. OK, now that is awful. Every time she has to say her full name she’s going to have to resignedly wait for the punchline or, perhaps, sympathetic grimace. Plus lots of Marx-brothers style pretended ‘confusions’ with the number. ---
**Author:** ![Yookeroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yookeroo/32/323_2.png) [@Yookeroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yookeroo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426/73 "2012-01-24T04:03:04Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > So I’m lousy at artificial dialogue. And analogies. They’re still [del]dumbass[/del] unusual names, and somewhere along the line someone is going to point that out to the kid. And the kid will probably not care. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-celebrity-baby-names-that-are-not-weird/609426.md?page=3)