In a week where a judge in the US tried to ban a couple from naming their baby Messiah, here at Latedeals.co.uk we got to thinking about the names people choose for their offspring, and in particular the weird and whacky monikers that celebrities choose.

Of course we’ve got travel on the brain here so we had to start with those named after places and the first one that came to my mind was the Beckhams. They made no secret of the fact that they named their first son after the city he was conceived in – Brooklyn (good job they weren’t visiting Elephant Butte in Colorado!) Their second son is called Romeo (not sure where that is on the map). Their third was born in Madrid and named Cruz, which is the Spanish word for ‘cross’, we sense a football connection rather than the religious one. And finally along came Harper, relatively unheard of at the time but now making the top ten UK baby girls names.

It is unclear if Alicia Keys’ daughter – Egypt was actually conceived in the country or she was simply a fan of the Pyramids. Similarly, Mike Tyson who called his son Morocco and Mariah Cary who named one of her twins Moroccan.

We cast our minds back and decided that the trend of whacky baby names may have been started way back in the seventies when David Bowie and his wife Angie named their first born son Zowie, quite startling at the time and a name that perhaps he wasn’t too keen on either, as he called himself ‘Joe’ from the age of 12, and when he was 18, reverted back to what was apparently on his birth certificate, which was Duncan. Not quite so rock and roll. Marc Bolan followed the rhyming theme a few years later by naming his son Rolan Bolan.

The Geldof’s caused a stir in the eighties when they named their children Peaches Honeyblossom, Little Pixie and Fifi Trixibelle. Geldof’s wife Paula Yates then went on to have a child with Australian rocker Michael Hutchence who they named Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily. Try shouting that lot down for dinner.
Michael Jackson gave his children relatively normal names in comparison; Michael Joseph Junior, Paris Michael Katherine and Prince Michael, although the first born is actually known as Prince and Prince is known as Blanket. Keeping up?

They perhaps got off lightly as Penn Jillette of Penn and Teller fame named his son Zolten, which is his wife’s surname, and his daughter Moxie CrimeFighter. If anyone knows why – please feel free to share.

It seems that Jason Lee (My Name is Earl) also had a moment of madness when he labelled his son with Pilot Inspektor as a name; however he insists it was inspired by a song called ‘He’s Simple. He’s Dumb. He’s the Pilot.’ Really?

Surnames can come into play too as of course we have to make sure that the Christian names go with them and the initials don’t stand for anything dodgy. We wonder then what went through American actor and star of Numb3rs, Rob Morrow’s mind when he named his daughter Tu. Think about it…

And of course, we have to ask how long it took Kanye West and Kim Kardashian to come up with the name ‘North’ for their baby daughter. Perhaps it was revenge for Kim’s parents giving her the middle name of ‘Noel’.
Some countries actually ban certain names. In New Zealand for instance, it’s against the law to call your child Lucifer, Prince, Princess or Bishop amongst others, with one family being told to change their daughters name from ‘Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii’ as it was deemed too embarrassing! It’s also illegal to call your child ‘Ikea’ if you’re Swedish, although I’m not sure that you’d want to as that’s a bit like calling your child MFI if you’re from the UK.

From Apple to Zuzu, who knows what goes through people’s minds when they come up with these names? Perhaps some were influenced by professions; Sailor, Pirate, Poet, Shepherd and even Rocket Man are on the celebrity baby names list, but Sparrow, Diva Muffin, Moon Unit, Peanut, Lyric, Mars and Pepper! Come on!

Fortunately these children will be brought up in a society where the unusual is acceptable and will never be on the receiving end of the roasting our kids would no doubt receive when they started senior school. Kids can be cruel.

Of course the privilege of giving our children ridiculous names is not reserved for the rich and famous, in the recent channel 4 documentary, ‘My Big Fat Gypsy Ladies Day’ we were introduced to one family’s children; ‘Young-un’, Baby-girl’ and the oldest son, thoughtfully named ‘Boy’. Mind you, I’m not sure anyone would ever give them a roasting over their names either!

On a personal level, I once came across a lady who named her son, Jaguar and her daughter Mercedes; I stifled a giggle when she drove off in her Fiat Punto! Maybe that’s the name of the dog!

So come on then, it’s time to share, can you think of any more ridiculous celebrity baby names? What do you think Simon Cowell and Lauren Silverman will call their baby, expected (pun totally intended!) to be a boy? Did you call your children, or are you called something unusual? We’re nosy here at Latedeals.co.uk and we promise not to laugh, plus you never know, you could inspire a new generation of baby names!