Great Baby Expectations

Great Baby Expectations

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Did Jessica Alba do her daughter a dishonor by naming her Honor?

Consider this: You're the little baby daughter born to one of the hottest celebrity moms in Hollywood. You already have some big shoes to fill -- then they name you Honor. That's exactly what Jessica Alba named her daughter born June 7. Honor is defined as "fairness, or integrity in one's beliefs and actions." Wow. Tall order for a little baby.

It's one of the Puritan virtue names that's making a comeback -- along with names like Hope, Faith and Charity. Jennifer Moss, CEO and founder of babynames.com, calls these names 'expectation names.' "Many times, says Jennifer, "the parents will use expectation names because they have a pre-conceived notion of what they want their child to be like throughout their life."

Jennifer thinks names like Angel, Justice and Grace are "actually unspoken pressure you are putting on your child throughout his or her life, and it's unfair to them." Think about it: Will Angel always act like one, will Justice ever break the law, and will Prudence be frugal?

Actually, some of the names could be used to your advantage -- name your daughter Chastity and she might be inclined to save it for marriage (or, of course, it could have the opposite effect).

What do you think--does the name make the baby or the baby make the name?

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I don’t really buy into the theory that you’re putting expectations on the child. I think the baby makes the name.

- SugarPlumFairy

Posted 06/17/08 12:44 PM

BABY MAKES THE NAME. Honor is cool…who wants to be the 5th Madison in their class?

- foxymama

Posted 06/17/08 01:16 PM

I think that a name can affect behaviour especially during the teen years. When I was in Junior high there were two boys named Katie and Kimberly who spent so much time “proving” by fighting and doing lots of things that they thought were “manly” so that they were not considered girlie as their names suggested it was just sad. I don’t know how they managed to make it through school at all. Their dad thought if they had girls names they would grow up to be tough. Well, they did get tough and mean and hateful so I guess he sort of got what he wanted. I always have wondered what kind of men they turned out to be.

- Anonymous

Posted 06/17/08 01:17 PM