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Grace, Gregory ... Google?
A Mom Reflects on Choosing a Baby's Name in the Computer Age
By Jennifer Reynolds
When my youngest son Malcolm was in first grade, he came home nursing hurt feelings because another kid had said Malcolm's name was weird. I said, "That's too bad. Who said that?" The irony of the answer was lost on him. He replied, "Torben."
Names come in and out of fashion, of course, and one of the hottest current trends is to use names that were in style generations ago. In time, they became overused, people avoided them and the early 20th-century-born babies named Ruby and Isabel, Henry and Jack grew up, became old and are no longer with us. Not associating these names with old people, as boomers might, expectant young parents have rediscovered those classic monikers and rocketed them into popularity again.
I have a friend in San Francisco whose young sons play only with Jacks or Jacksons. It gets confusing. My friend was terribly grateful recently when her youngest child made friends with a kid named Devon.
Last summer, I heard a Little League coach yelling encouragement to his young charges. "Come on, get out there Tobias! Ethan! Caleb!" It could have been one of the battle cries at Pickett's Charge. Everything old is new again.
When you're deciding on a name and a spelling, when you're vetoing names that clash with your last name, belonged to your childhood nemesis or rhyme with naughty words, when you're trying to choose something not too common and not too bizarre, just don't forget to think about that other name: Google. It looks like it's here to stay.
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