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The urge to pick a unique name is what has really changed. In the old days, you just picked a meaningful name that was already in your family tree. I think it has a lot to do with branding and that's a perhaps a natural influence of celebrity journalism, consumerism and competitive capitalism among other things.
Ironically, we chose traditional names with traditional spellings for the same reason: Unique monikers that would stand out and imply stabilty. We reserved their middle names for family favourites.
And yet our daughter's name turned up in the top 10 Canadian girls name for this year so try as you might, there are broader forces at work and you might be part of a trend without even realizing it.
In the end I don't think odd choices like Blaze or Boston will be problems for those children, but I don't like the oddly spelled ones. My last name is hard to spell and I've spent my whole life correcting others of it. It's tedious and I wouldn't wish it upon anyone's first name.
And please, I do hope that this thread doesn't become just another rant thread about neo-african names like Shaniqua and so on. I find that kind of one sided negativity depressing.
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Building an artificial intelligence that appreciates Mozart is easy. Building an A.I. that appreciates a theme restaurant is the real challenge - Kit Roebuck - Nine Planets Without Intelligent Life
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