One of the most important and longest lasting decisions you will make in your life is deciding what you are going to name your kids. After all, your kids are probably going to live many, many years. Wouldn’t you rather your child lived all those years with a really cool name, like Lee Andrew for example, and not a really dumb name like Gertrude? (No offense Aunt Gertrude)
There are many ways to decide your child’s name. Some people choose to use a name that has some special meaning. Others name their children after friends or family members. Still, others will name their child after their favorite celebrity. For example, when Peyton Manning was the quarterback at the University of Tennessee the name Peyton became extremely popular among babies in Tennessee.
Is it really a good idea to name your child after a celebrity? Let’s face it, as talented as your favorite celebrity may be, as “cool” as they might seem, you don’t know that celebrity. With all the trouble that celebrities get into these days that celebrity you named your child after could be just a day away from a big scandal.
Nobody wants to believe his or her favorite celebrity would ever do anything wrong but you really never know. For example, for several years one of my favorite celebrities was my favorite pro wrestler Chris Benoit. Everybody thought Chris Benoit was a nice, classy guy until one day out of nowhere he killed his wife, son, and himself.
Now hopefully your favorite celebrity will never commit murder, that’s a pretty extreme example, but you never know when your favorite celebrity might get caught drinking and driving, using steroids or even neglecting to put underwear on.
In the case of athletes, there is always the possibility of a player not staying with your favorite team. I could name my son David after New York Mets third baseman David Wright but what if four years from now David Wright is winning three World Series for the New York Yankees? That four-year-old son of mine is going to be put up for adoption if that happened.
I would never suggest naming your child after an athlete or actor but if you insist on dedicating your child to your favorite actor then instead of using the actor’s name pick your favorite character they have played. That way if that celebrity one day is part of some scandal you can still say that you enjoyed that character without feeling guilty.
If your favorite actress is Jennifer Garner then name your child Sydney after Sydney Bristow. If your favorite actor is Kiefer Sutherland then name your child Jack after Jack Bauer. If your favorite actor is Val Kilmer don’t name your son Val, name him Madmardigan. Okay, maybe not that last one, but you get my drift.
Of course, if you want to name your child after your favorite writer then that’s a different story. I expect there to be many babies named Lee Andrew over the next several years and I promise I had nothing to do with getting any of those women pregnant.