The Complicated World of Modern Baby Naming

Way back when, parents used to name their kids whatever they like and that's the end of that.

Then came the Internet, and baby naming suddenly became a bit more complicated:

Fast forward to after a baby is born, and it’s becoming more and more popular to reserve a child’s email, domain name and maybe even Twitter handle, so they don’t have to be something like, “Sophie Miller 582” or “Oscar Sheppard 4”” when they grow up and want their own Internet identity.

“When our son was a month old, we got him a Gmail account,” says Joanna Goldstein, a first time mother in New York City. “For now, I send emails out to our family every week, attaching pictures and sharing his latest triumphs. I hope somebody it will be nice for him to have this journal of his early adventures in his email.”

And then, there’s Jay Z and Beyonce, who took the whole laying claim to a baby name to the next level. They made headlines last winter when they filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to protect their daughter’s name -- Blue Ivy Carter .

Some parents found the whole thing downright crazy. Trademarking a baby name -- only in tinsel town, right?

Jacoba Urist of MSNBC's TODAY Moms has the post: Link (Photo: Shutterstock)


Setting up a Gmail account is going too far. Gmail is unlikely to be important by the time that a child is a teenager. But staking down the URL of a child's name would be a good idea, especially if the child has a common name.
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What kid wants their Internet or any part of their identity predetermined by their parents? As someone who came up through the Internet via the AOL dialup days this is just weird and slightly offensive. I came by my old and new Internet handles (that's what they are, if you don't know that then well...you have some learning to do) through my own personality, experiences, likes, and life. Why would anyone want to be saddled with an Internet handle/identity that someone else has picked for them? Where's the individuality or creativity in that? Guess this is another aspect of the whole "helicopter parents" who can't let their kids be their own people.
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