How important is the name of a child after all? Has any relevance in his life, can influence positively or negatively? Because if the answer is yes, then the parents have a major responsibility when choosing a name for their child.
Choosing the right name is not always easy for parents, especially because the name can’t be changed from one day to another. Statistics show that in the country, although there is a tendency for modern names, original, exotics, traditional names (and holy ones) remain preferred by parents. Helen, Mary, Joanna, Anna and Andrew, John, Alexander, George remain very popular names. This and the tradition of naming the child after a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent.
Can influence a name the life of a child?
Apparently it does – and from this perspective, the preference for traditional names, common seems to actually be a good choice for parents.
It is quite obvious that names like justice, stupid, tiny, polenta will not help very much the child through life. Some parents seem that they want their child to hate them, otherwise the choice of such a name is hard to understand…
Leaving these funny (and sad at the same time!) eccentricities aside, there is, as has been said, the tend to choose an exotic name, less common. Many parents are attracted by unusual names, which bears a special significance, as Adel, Naira, Eolande, Shani, Jovana, or Dragan, Tanvir, Maximilian, Einar.
Some modern names are used for both girls and boys (as Sasha). When choosing baby’s name, parents generally take into account their preferences and family tradition (by giving the name of a person in the family). But there are several aspects to consider: is the name suitable for an adult too?
This is the first question, as some names seem so expensive and suitable for a child, but so quirky and hilarious for an adult (attention for diminutives too). A second aspect is that the name could lead to embarrassing nicknames in combination with other names or undesirable people (who would want to choose the name Hitler?).
Name of a person is part of who it is. In past societies, it was believed that a name has magical power for the wearer and that you can manipulate a person using the name; also some names were taboo, people weren’t allowed to utter.
It’s true that the name is part of the identity of each, of its picture of himself and others about its image. A simple test: ask a person to call you by another name, a strange name; you find it natural? Think of a close person; the first thing that comes to your mind: his name…
The name would influence the child’s image of himself and others about him. Even would influence the self-esteem, some think. The fact is easier to understand if we consider some weird names, silly or hilarious. Also, when a child likes his name, he is logically more confident.
A British company has undertaken an interesting experiment; the company supplies public schools with cards that receives the best and the worst students. The company thought to keep track and this way find the names of the best and good childrens in school and the names of the worst behaved and insolent childrens in school.
Conclusion – there was a clear separation between the names of the good and of the bad, and the criterion was traditional vs. original. Children with common names, traditional as Amy or Emma were on the list of good, while children with weird names or unique or exotic like Blue or Jade were on the list of bad ( nice or naughty ).
The explanation? A strange name, original, exotic, nontraditional takes the child out, makes him out of the group; but this is not always a good thing, because the name may dislike people who are so inclined to treat the child with prejudice. People who form their first impressions quickly are influenced mostly by names too.
It should however be added that today the world is becoming more common with exotic names, original. A negative reaction is increasingly unlikely, except for cases where the name really is bizarre. Finally, each parent will choose the name that believes it is appropriate for their child…
