Names That Are Not All They Seem

Got to love a hidden meaning

Recent baby name news has got me thinking about names that have more to them than meets the eye.

The biggest name announcement of the month is Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker’s son, Rocky Thirteen. (Except… does it count as an announcement when you’ve basically revealed the name months earlier?)

Travis in one interview agreed that Rocky is a “hard” name, the kind of baby who does front kicks and push-ups. But it’s easy to connect it to his music career too. And Rocky is also a nature name, and a place name, and signifies emotional strength, not just physical — as in, being someone’s rock. That’s a lot of layers in five letters.

Our name guru Sophie correctly guessed that the couple would use a word name, and she also predicted they’d use a number like Seven (because he’s their seventh child in total). She was pretty close: Thirteen is because he’s the thirteenth Kardashian grandchild — and it’s also one of the most rock’n’roll of numbers.

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Another name that isn’t quite what you expect?

Olympia, daughter of the Australian swimmer champion Grant Hackett. He’s won half a dozen Olympic medals: case closed. Except! Grant and his wife actually got the name Olympia from a movie. In fact, he almost didn’t use it for fear that everyone would think it was after his Olympic career.

You can’t always judge a name by its cover. Even the most popular name in the world has personal meaning to the parents who use it — case in point, this story of a Liam.

Now for a name with unexpected consequences.

It’s a new one to me: until I read this story, I didn’t know that the Ukrainian form of Simon is very unfortunate when written in English. Usually, choosing names that work across cultures is a fine balance, and many parents want to stay true to their heritage. BUT in this case, something definitely needs to change, even if it’s just a small spelling tweak.

Speaking of controversies, local authorities in England have been arguing over whether a boy should be called Mia.

We predicted that girl names on boys will be a big trend in 2024, but I’ve got to admit seeing such a popular feminine name on a boy made me do a double-take. And there may be more to the story that we’re missing — maybe Mia is short for something like Jeremia?

Finally, a name that’s really not as controversial as the internet reactionaries seem to think: Brisbane.

Sure, it’s never been in the US charts. But babies today have city names like Cairo, Denver, Rome, Aberdeen… so why not Brisbane? It even sounds on-trend: think Bryson, Brynlee, Brixton. In fact, I’m mainly wondering why it hasn’t taken off already.