Give me a break

Why can't kids these days have nice, normal names?  Traditional names?  I couldn't really believe it when I saw the credits for Gossip Girl, which Garry has gotten me hooked on.  Some of the ridiculous first names these actors have:

Leighton (a girl)
Blake (a girl)
Penn (a guy)
Taylor (a girl)
Chace (a guy)

I mean for real...Chace?  With a C?  How pretentious do you have to be?

When (if) I have kids, I'm giving them sensible, Biblical names.  Like Mary, Rachel, Jonathan, David.  For real, people.
14 responses
I don't mind unique names except that so many of them scream WASP/privilege/upper class. Maybe because they remind me of estate names in England or people from Victorian novels.
hilarious and well put. Leighton is a pretty name though. Chace, however... simply odd. Doesn't so much scream upper class as much as it screams parents who can't spell or like to invent words.
They're a bit strange, but they'll seem less so in a few years. Besides, biblical names are rather puritanical-plain (and I have one...).
You're so Christianophobic dude

Maybe you just need to use better Biblical names (i.e. less common)?
I don't care where the name comes from -- just don't like boring,
every-day names.

Why not: Ezra? Job? Isaiah? Micah?

Those are all better by my reckoning than the plain Marys and Marks...
I think what tipped me off was the word "Puritanical."
And I don't think names like Mary and Mark are boring.  I think they're sensible and have a lot of integrity.
But yeah, sure, I really like the old-testatment names Isaiah and Gabriel and such too.

Sanny and I just watched this Australian film Gabriel (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0857376/) the other night. It was pretty decent but the end leaves something to be desired.
Did you ever see the movie A Walk to Remember? The main character's name was Landon. I hate that name. WITH A PASSION! - Brandon
I think you should name kids after alma maters. In my case, they would be called "Wyoming" or "Ohlone."
Crazy celebrity couples are even nuttier. Remember Coldplay's lead singer Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow child named Apple. I know there are plenty of other crazier names for celebrity children but thats the only one I can think of right now.
It seems like a trend to name your kids after what you would traditionally think of as "last names". Wouldn't be surprised if they added characters like Bennett, Garrity, and Livingston.
@Stephanie
At the risk of sounding stupid. How exactly is Chase normally spelled. May be a regional thing i guess but reason I ask is that a cousin is named Chase. I have only heard of one or two others besides him with the same name spelled the same way. Its not common that I know of but thats the only spelling I have seen.

Another odd name thing that gets on my nerves is naming a boy Casey or Ashley. Thats retarded to me. I understand some names are unisex but those two are definitely feminine. Im with ya on the more standard names but I do like some unique names.

@Brad I agree that Chase is normally spelled with an S.  To spell it with a C is a bit obnoxious I think.  Also, re: Casey and Ashley, I'm pretty sure if you dig into the history of those names, they started out as masculine names, and have only recently become feminine names.  So maybe your beef is more with parents who give their daughters male names.  Like Leslie, Ashley, Kelly, and James (all originally male).

@Stephanie
Chace does. Chaz sounds even more obnoxious and is portrayed that way in movies. About the Casey and Ashley reply, you made me curious about that. So my boss and I searched the origins of these two names, Carrol and Kelly also. Carrol because there was a news release in one of our magazines about a man named Carrol. Kelley is Gaelic for war, strife. They are definitely masculine in origin and have masculine meanings. Very interesting. I didnt think about it at the time but I thought of Casey Kasem and Casey Jones later so I have warmed up to Casey as a boy's name.

This may seem like I had too much free time at work but I really, really didnt. I just had a few free minutes here and there.