How much thought should a parent give in naming their baby?
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Griffith couple John Minato and Emma Storrier weren’t prepared to just pick one out of a hat, or be guided by the recently released list of most popular NSW names in 2016 when their adorable Romilda Rose was born last month.
“The name for our little girl was chosen as it has meaning for both sides of our families,” Emma said.
Romilda was the name of John’s grandmother, who was from Italy, and means “born in Rome”.
Rose was the maiden name of Emma’s great-grandmother and has been used in the family as a middle name for each generation since.
Neither name was in the top 50 popular baby names in NSW for 2016 – a list that reflected a huge change from previous decades.
Oliver and Olivia were the number one picks for each gender. Interestingly, I was the only Oliver in a school of 1500 boys in the 1980s.
The 2016 NSW top 5 for boys and girls show a Victorian era and multicultural influence:
- Oliver 1. Olivia
- William 2. Charlotte
- Jack 3. Amelia
- Noah 4. Ava
- Lucas 5. Mia
Fifty years ago (1966) the top choices were very different:
- David 1. Karen
- Michael 2. Michell
- Peter 3. Sharon
- Paul 4. Donna
- Mark 5. Lisa
Sabrina Rogers-Anderson, author of the little book of bogan: baby names, says in recent times many Australian parents have tried to stand out from the crowd with their baby name choices – “J’zayden” and “Vejonica” being personal favorites. She warns though that being George Costanza-like in choosing baby names may shape their future.
“I’ve talked to employers and CEOs, and many have said they would look down on a CV headed by a particularly unusual or so-called bogan name”.
But is the name the problem? Freakonomics author Steve Levitt research found that unorthodox names are a consequence rather a cause of life problems.
In other words, a baby named “seven” should be more worried about their dad than their own name.
A classic example of names not influencing life outcomes was the American parent who decided to name one son Winner and the other son Loser.
Loser ended up a star athlete and successful detective. Winner was arrested 31 times in his life before ending up in jail.