In the past I have commented on children’s names, for as someone who grew up with Bills, Daves, Jims, Margarets and Beryls, I have found it a little strange in recent years to find myself addressing Kylies, Keanus and Keeleys, although I have yet to come across a Keisha or a Kayden.
Now, it seems, that to make their little darlings stand out from the crowd, and, in particular, from the rest of the class, some parents are not content with naming their angels Courtney, Jayde, Chanice and Tyler, but are taking perfectly acceptable names and messing about with the spelling: thus, Amy becomes Aimeey, Sophie becomes Sophee and Cloe becomes Kloe; and apparently, for some reason, teachers are associating such names with the ‘trouble makers’ in their classrooms. I suppose they assume that if you are a kid with a name like Chardonnay, Chanel or even Diesel then Mummy and Daddy (if there is a ‘daddy’ around ?) will probably not be the type of parents who are trying to instil in their offspring traditional values, including those of good behaviour at home and at school.
Of course, in our celebrity-mad culture, there are bound to be a few Britneys, Rihannas, Demis and Ashtons knocking about in any classroom, and according to one report, some parents are naming their children after Disney characters. OK, so some nutty pop star might get away with calling his daughter Tinker Bell, but what kind of parent would send their child off to school with a name like ’Buzz Lightyear’ ? .. but, then again, you can bet your life, that in the corner of some playground, there will be some poor little sod wishing that his parents had named him Norman …
… instead of .. ’Nemo’ !
