Parents Name Babies After Hunger Games Tributes

[Hero in a half shell]

There's a kid getting put into nursery at my old primary school called Mason. Nothing wrong with that you might say, but his second name is Wray, so his full name is Mason Wray... Masonry. I laughed when I realised that.

Also we have one girl called Atlantis, and another called Indiana Lighttower. Lighttower is her second name, which can't be helped, but it makes it a whole lot funnier.

I want to see the look on peoples faces when they meet xXxeXtrimeDUBSTEPsnipezzzz420smokzweedxXx for the first time.

I'm guessing it sounds just the way it's spelt...

 

[Blind Sight]

I somewhat wish that people would embrace Cato for its Roman origins rather then a flash-in-the-pan piece of pop culture, but I wish that for all Roman names (seriously, I'm glad Tiberius got more popular because of Kirk, but I'd like to see people actually know something about the Emperor).

In the case of Katniss however, I really question the parental logic of naming a child something that is so close to 'cat piss'.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Color me unsurprised that a book written for roughly the same audience as twilight is causing people to name children after the characters, especially with how popular this one is and how that usually leads to a wave of hipsters doing this cause tehy want to either better than the other fans or because they want to show theyve been a fan the whole time and not for just since the movie was announced and heavily advertised.

... why yes I am being cynical.

 

[AgentCooper]

People name their kids after made up characters in books all the time.

Michael, Peter, John, Matthew, etc.

Not really funny.

Anyway, I think some parents need to put more thought into names. They need to take into account that these are Humans and not animals or cars there naming.

 

[TheVioletBandit]

People have always borrowed names from literature and folk characters, it's nothing new. In fact, I may legally change my name to Mowgli one day as I feel a connection with the books character (not the Disney movie version, but the actual Rudyard Kipling book character).

 

[someonehairy-ish]

Meh. I've got friends and relatives with names like Afuogang, Atlanta, Savanha, Reuben, ermm... Corey, Richelle. All of them get on fine. Rue is less strange than most of those and Cato probably ties with Reuben or Afuogang.

If I ever have a son I want to call him Tosin, after Tosin Abasi, the nicest guy and best guitarist ever. If not that, then Mikael after a certain frontman instead. I want to name my kids after people that inspire me, the only significant difference I see here is that the people who inspire me are real people.

 

[SenseOfTumour]

I'm also wondering how much 'The Hunger Games' is similar to 'Twilight', as I picked up the books out of curiousity, as they sounded a bit 'Running Man'/'Battle Royale' and since starting the first this week I'm already into the third, and, ok, there's more in the books about the people and how they interact than simple descriptions of how they get bits sliced off them, but I wouldn't rank them in the 'Twilight' teen romance genre. I'm a male of nearly 40 btw, not a 12 year old girl. I've also rarely cared about popular opinion if I enjoy something, and despite not really getting 'bronies', hell if they enjoy the show,who are we to tell them they're wrong? It's a shame when you're told you shouldn't enjoy a form of entertainment because you're too old/the wrong gender/whatever.

(One complaint, I bought the trilogy for £5, and on the back of the third book, there's the most massive spoiler! Think about your blurb, publishers!)

As for Rue, I'd not condemn it for being a name in a popular book, but I would avoid it as it means 'regret', and do you really want to name your own child 'regret'? May well call em Condomsplit or Momwasdrunk.

My main suggestion however, is have a think and see if it can easily be turned into an insult.

You name your son Link, and he's going to get stinky Linky thru early school, and elf ****** when he progresses to high school and the idiots have learned new words.

Mikael above is great, it's what you want, but offers him the chance to go with Mike, Micky, etc as he prefers.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

not the worst, but still silly

 

[Crazy Zaul]

Its better than calling them Dovakiin or Princess Beyonce.

 

[Dr.Helios]

Funnily enough I know a fifty year old Cato and didn't think anything of the name until the books came out and the connection gave me a little giggle. I see nothing wrong with this, the names aren't stupid and over extravagant so who cares where they came from? I know I would rather be called something interesting like that than dull conventional names like James, Luke, John or Simon.

 

[maddawg IAJI]

The sad part is that list does not have a single child born to Frank Zappa on it that I can see. Seriously, how the fuck is Moon Unit not on that list?

 

[Baresark]

Meh, not uncommon. As the article states, those names are not new names, just names that not a lot of people use. There is a lot to be said about naming your child something unique. The only names I can't stand are adjectives and nouns attributed to fruits and vegetables. That said, various cultures throughout history have named their kids things found in nature. Cato had another popularity boom in 70's, despite it going back to Roman times. My mother and aunt are named Heather and Laurel, both of which are flowers first, then names. I think that it's fine they people name their kids names like Cato, Rue, Katniss, etc. I think it's even better when people can't directly relate it to a pop culture reference. I joke with my girlfriend about naming our potential future kids after the Norse gods, for the fuck of it and because Thor is an extremely badass name. Dane Cook jokes about wanting to name his kids after his favorite Transformers. My mother used to want to make my middle name Thyme(like the herb), and my first name is Justin. It would have been cruel, but it wouldn't have made a difference in the long run. She also almost named me Justice, but at the time Justin was an extremely uncommon name. Now every other 6 year old is named Justin. I would have taken Justice.... oh yeah, definitely.

I think it's funny when people get mad about this kind of thing.

 

[Ickorus]

So..the kids might Rue the day their parents watched the film/read the book.

[small]I'll show myself out.[/small]

 

[Nenad]

I don't like Katniss very much, but Rue is a seriously good name in my opinion. Cato is so-so, good if you like roman military... because it reminds me of it. And i don't like military. Maybe we can pretend he's roman but not military?

Anyway, I love the ending word play in the article

 

[Uratoh]

Ickorus, your avatar threw me. twice.

As for bad names...I had a friend named 'Browning Keister'. Browning was his middle name. I once asked why he didn't use his first name, so he showed me his driver's licence. I do not remember what the name displayed was...but all I know is that Browning was the right choice given what his parents gave him to work with.

 

[Agayek]

Why do parents do this?

Why do they give their kids ridiculous names?

They're not signup sheets for a bloody MMO, you can't just call your kid 'Xxx3lite$nip3r69xxX' and expect you kid not to think you were being daft.

Neither Rue nor Cato are at all bad names. They're not common names, but neither is obnoxious or overly silly. They could have chosen far worse (like Dovahkiin for example).

 

[Agayek]

Unless I'm allowed to name our first son "Thunderhawk Deathblade," it's not happening.

Best. Name. Ever. You'd have to teach him to fight like a boss, and preferably get him some power armor so he can walk around acting like the God-Emperor of Mankind though. Otherwise, he'll forever have to suffer under being unable to live up to his name.