Gwyneth Paltrow

[Grgranny]

I guess it beats the Hog family in TX that name their kids Ura and Ima.
I know I've mentioned before I had an Aunt named Fanny Butts.

 

[Rgirl]

I think a lot of "unusual" names are beautiful and IMO, the more unusual names there are, they less teasing there will be. Uma Thurman was named after an Egyptian goddess, IIRC. She has said she was a late bloomer and a real geek in high school, but who has the last laugh now? Why isn't anyone upset about Oprah's name? Charlize Theron was named after her father Charlie. When Charlize asked her mother why she chose Charlize instead of some other feminine name for Charles, her mother said, "Charlize just seemed pretty." And IMO, it is. It's tragic that Jon-Benet Ramsey was murdered, but Jon-Benet is a beautiful name that reflected both her father's name, John, and their French heritage. Demi Moore, whose first name could be considered odd, named one of her daughters Rumer after the writer Rumer Godin and the other daughter Scout after the character in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Fiona Apple doesn't use her last name. Her middle name is Apple, and Fiona isn't all that common.

Kids in school will pick on other kids for ANYTHING. If you're smart, you get it. If you're tall, if you're skinny, if you're overweight, if you have an odd or funny last name, if you're in a public school and do something "odd" like play the violin or act--the list goes on and on. So what, we should just get a list of acceptable names and only use those? I remember when Tiffany was thought to be an outlandish name. Now we have Grandma Tiffanies.

True, some parents are just stupid when they insist on spelling Ur-een as Urine. But if it's okay to name a girl Blossom or Iris, I have no problem with Apple no matter how it's pronounced. You would think with the range of names in a typical urban classroom in this melting pot of a country, people would start accepting non-WASP names. Except for the clearly ridiculous names like Urine, I hope these kids learn to find strength in their individuality.

Congratulations Gywneth (ooh, what an odd name!) and hubby on having a healthy, beautiful baby girl and giving her a beautiful name.
Rgirl

 

[show 42]

There was a lovely immigrant family at my school (I might have mentioned this before) who embraced the "American" way of life and named their sons Levi, Nike, and Addidas ( I'm not kidding). These kids were wonderful kids, well liked, and not teased because of their unusual names........Now wouldn't they be great spokesmen for, oh, I don't know, I'm sure some company will hire them. 42

 

[SusanBeth]

It would be an interesting experience living in a world with no conventions to abide or rebel against. None of us will ever know for sure, because we don't live in that world. We never have and never will. We live in a world in which children considered odd will suffer for it. A parent who does not take that into consideration is a parent who is doing his/her child a disservice.

Now, I am not saying- we must teach the children to assimilate. Clearly, there are things worth standing up for and even suffering for if necessary. I just don't think an odd name is worth the child's suffering. Apple, while not as bad as Bambi, is a name that child will have to overcome. I see that as a waste.

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

I think a lot of "unusual" names are beautiful and IMO, the more unusual names there are, they less teasing there will be. Uma Thurman was named after an Egyptian goddess, IIRC. She has said she was a late bloomer and a real geek in high school, but who has the last laugh now? Why isn't anyone upset about Oprah's name? Charlize Theron was named after her father Charlie. When Charlize asked her mother why she chose Charlize instead of some other feminine name for Charles, her mother said, "Charlize just seemed pretty." And IMO, it is. It's tragic that Jon-Benet Ramsey was murdered, but Jon-Benet is a beautiful name that reflected both her father's name, John, and their French heritage. Demi Moore, whose first name could be considered odd, named one of her daughters Rumer after the writer Rumer Godin and the other daughter Scout after the character in "To Kill a Mockingbird." Fiona Apple doesn't use her last name. Her middle name is Apple, and Fiona isn't all that common.

Kids in school will pick on other kids for ANYTHING. If you're smart, you get it. If you're tall, if you're skinny, if you're overweight, if you have an odd or funny last name, if you're in a public school and do something "odd" like play the violin or act--the list goes on and on. So what, we should just get a list of acceptable names and only use those? I remember when Tiffany was thought to be an outlandish name. Now we have Grandma Tiffanies.

True, some parents are just stupid when they insist on spelling Ur-een as Urine. But if it's okay to name a girl Blossom or Iris, I have no problem with Apple no matter how it's pronounced. You would think with the range of names in a typical urban classroom in this melting pot of a country, people would start accepting non-WASP names. Except for the clearly ridiculous names like Urine, I hope these kids learn to find strength in their individuality.

Congratulations Gywneth (ooh, what an odd name!) and hubby on having a healthy, beautiful baby girl and giving her a beautiful name.
Rgirl

Right on!
I think people are making a way too big of a deal over parents naming their kids. If kids want to make fun of other kids, they are going to find ways to do it, no matter if the name is unusual or not. I just think people are making a big deal out of nothing. People make fun of "normal" names all the time, but we never hear people complaining about that.

 

[peachstatesk8er]

I know a kid named Uneeke Be and I know of one named WillyKat Creamer. You can't tell me they won't hate those names when they're older.

JMHO, but with everyone trying so hard to be different, they're all running together no one is really that unique at all.

A funny link about the trend of weird baby names - http://www.misanthropic-bitch.com/briandrye.html

 

[bronxgirl]

When I was growing up, my name was consider "old fashioned" and it was rarely used (and I did take a fair bit of teasing over it). Now it seems you can't swing the proverbial dead cat without hitting 10 little girls with my name. I truly believe that there are fashions that come and go in names as in hemlines...

 

[show 42]

I have been in the public school system for over thirty years, and believe me, if you have an unusual name, even though it's beautiful, you'll stick out and nine times out of ten (the only exception I saw was with the "tennis shoe trio"), you will at some time be the butt of someone's joke. It's especially worse if you stick out some way to boot, exceptionally tall, style of clothing different, excetera. Kid's don't need a different sounding name to zero in on you. I have a student (a boy) who has a common first name, but wears hot pink socks everyday. Does he get hammered. So much for being individual.

I do think, as the students get older and progress through school with the same group of kids, they get used to the unique name and soon it becomes almost common-place.............42

 

[Longhornliz]

I dont really think its the end of the world to be teased because of your name... I dont think it is something that would cause permanent psychological damage or anything. But I'm no expert.

My middle name is Foley, and when we lived up north no one thought anything of it because there was a large Irish population, when we moved to texas I found out quickly that there was a large department store chain named "Foley's"... all the kids wanted to know if my parents owned it as if no one else had ever had the name before.

 

[Spinner]

I dont really think its the end of the world to be teased because of your name... I dont think it is something that would cause permanent psychological damage or anything. But I'm no expert.

That's quite easy to say if it's never happened to you.

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

That's quite easy to say if it's never happened to you.

I have the normal name of Susan, but that didn't stop people from making fun of my name. I mean, yes, kids can be really cruel, but I think people are overreacting to Gwyneth Paltrow naming her child Apple. I mean if it was Toilet or something like that, then yeah, I can see the problem. But from what I hear, Apple is an old English name that isn't used often.

I mean if you're going to discourage people naming their child names based on what the possiblity that they will be made fun of my other kids, then that opens a can of worms on what is acceptable and what isn't. I mean what about foreign names...should that be discouraged because it's different and other kids might make fun of the kid because of it?

 

[RealtorGal]

True about foreign names being perfectly normal in other countries but odd in the U.S.

In Israel, the name "Dor" is popular--it means "generation".

The common nicknames for "David" are "Doo Doo" and "Doody"--I am not making this up. A popular personality in that country is "Doo Doo Topaz".

If RG Jr. had been a boy, I had considered naming "him" TAL, which means "dew" but realized that he'd be teased as "tall," which would be especially rough if he ended up on the short side. I also considered the name "Gal" (pronounced "Gahl" for a girl (it means "wave--like in the ocean) but obviously, that would not have gone over too well in this country.

The name in Hebrew for Samuel is "Shmuel" and the common nickname for it is "Shmoolik"--which is way too similar to "shmuck" for my taste.

The Hebrew name for "Ruth" is "Root".

RG Jr.'s middle name is "Hilah" (pronounced "Hee-LAH")--Hebrew for "halo".

 

[SusanBeth]

I look at it a little differently. Of course, it's not the end of the world. Nobody said it was. Yes, kids get picked on for different reasons. The difference is most of those reasons aren't preventable. I don't see the sense in saying, '' The kid's going to suffer anyway. Why not add to it with a ridiculous name?'' In the case of the truly apalling names, like Urine, knowing it was their own parents that gave them that name can't be good.

 

[Kateri]

Nothing wrong with an unusual name in itself...what annoys me is when the parents are obviously trying so hard to force the child into a certain box with the name...one that may end up being totally inappropriate to the child, and just an embarrassment.

e.g. Princess.
(or Prince - stand up, Michael Jackson, for child name abuse charges - Blanket??)

k.

 

[Ravyn Rant]

Several years ago, I would take the bus home from work every day with a group of school children. I'd hear lots of interesting names, but my favorites were two girls who looked to be in third or fourth grade. Their names were "Emerald" and "Tiara". I kid you not - Tiara would reach her stop, walk to the door and yell, "Bye, Emerald!", to which Emerald would answer "See you tomorrow, Tiara!" - and I would bury my face in the newspaper and try not to giggle.
Of course, my sister's youngest daughter's middle name is Crystal Lyn. ("Crystalline", get it?) And if Amazon Princess had had a little sister, she would have been named "Sequoia Joy", so I suppose I'm no better than anyone else, eh?
Rave

 

[Joesitz (RIP)]

I'd have to know the baby's last name to see if it fits. Paltrow is married or is this another one of those marriage isn't necessary.

Joe

 

[VIETgrlTerifa]

Paltrow is married to Chris Martin, lead singer of the British band "Coldplay."

Apple Blythe Allison Martin. Sounds pretty nice to me.

 

[Lucy25]

Sorry, I don't think it's cute to name a child after a fruit. I think it is ridiculous.

My sister in law's sister named her two boys Freedom Hunter and Truth Walker. Again, ridiculous. As a teacher, I see what these kinds of names do to the child. No way would I ever do that to a child I loved.

 

[Grgranny]

It depends on the child as to whether it would bother them. It would have really bothered me. Some people can let things roll right off their back and people like me can't. Everyone's different. :\

 

[dizzydi]

Maybe Gwyneth will name future children......orange, pear or nectarine. They can be the fruit family. Hey that's the ticket.

Just remember folks, Gwyneth belongs to the group called "The Hollywood Idiots". In that light, it kinda makes sense, doesn't it?

Dizzy