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Rock'n'Roll Baby Names

As many of my loyal readers / friends already know Amy and I are having a baby. With a new little one on the way the pressure is on to find a great name. (see how YOU can participate)

Record bins and radio waves are littered with the same run-of-the-mill names you get in temp pools and day cares, but there are always a few stand outs. I’ve assembled an abbreviated list of candidates for your consideration...

THE UNTOUCHABLES
Some names are inseparable from the person currently using them, for better or worse, and others should never have been used in the first place. For example:

Girls
Alanis Morissette
Aretha Franklin
Avril Lavigne
Bjork
Cher
Emmylou Harris
Jewel
Madonna
Sinead O'Connor
Siouxsie Sioux (this spelling only)

Boys
Bono
Bruce Springsteen (because who wants to be "Bruce" UNLESS you're Springsteen. Or Willis.)
Elvis
Lemmy Killmeister (Motorhead)
Liberace
Ozzy Osbourne
Prince
Ringo
Tupac
Yanni

THE CONTENDERS
...or what's left besides Britney, Courtney, Johnny & Justin

Girls
Beulah (the band)
Billie Holiday
Chrissie Hynde (Pretenders)
Dolly Parton
Etta James
Exene Cervenka (X)
Gillian Welch (she pronounces it with a hard "G" like Girl)
Janis Joplin
Joni Mitchell
Loretta Lynn
Lucinda Williams
Mavis Staples (Staple Singers)
Neko Case
Patsy Cline
Tift Merritt (or Merritt for that matter)

Boys
Ace Frehley (KISS)
Arlo Guthrie
Beck (not yet Untouchable)
Bootsy Collins (Parliment)
Cat Stevens (he's not using it anymore)
Cedar Walton (jazz pianist)
Devendra Banhart (neo-folkie)
Franz Ferdinand (the band)
Gram Parsons
Iggy Pop
Rivers Cuomo (Weezer)
Roscoe Holcolm (banjo player)
Sufjan Stevens (neo-folkie)
Theloneous Monk (jazz pianist)
Woody Guthrie

Posted by Kyle at February 1, 2005 12:00 AM

No specific suggestion at the moment but a hint from an experienced parent:

It's one thing for your offspring to choose to be known by an unusual (for the time) name such as Beulah or Iggy; it's quite another to have it applied in circumstances beyond his/her control--i.e., at birth. My son has two conventional names (i.e., first & middle) which he has, from time to time, torqued into strange, even bizarre things for his own purposes. All by his choice--what he liked to be called at 14 was not what he wanted to be stuck with at 19.

This is not a plea for conventionality or conservatism. It is simply a note from, as I said, an experienced parent, to say that a child is an individual, not an extension of his/her parents.

Best wishes for your coming blessed event. Of all the things I've done in my life, being a parent is by far the best and most wonderful.