Californian stock car racer Jimmie Johnson, nicknamed “Superman” by fellow driver Mark Martin, swears that it’s sheer coincidence that his new baby girl has the same initials as the company that produces the Chevy Impala he races.
According to his Twitter feed it is “purely coincidence” that little Genevieve Marie and General Motors share initials. That seems like one heck of a coincidence, but, then again, giving your baby the same initials as your corporate sponsor hardly even breaks list of top 100 baby naming atrocities committed by celebrities. I’m sure Pilot Inspektor Lee would gladly trade places with little Genevieve any day.
Celebrities aren’t even the worst baby naming offenders. Many countries have baby name laws that limit legal names to rather narrow lists of acceptable possibilities. This practice might seem draconian, but when you see the list of rejected names, you might begin to think it might not be such a terrible idea.
We can’t really hold Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb111163 (pronounced Albin) against the Swedish parents who submitted it specifically in protest to Sweden’s naming laws, which are remnants from a time when the government still sought to prevent people who were not noble from giving their children noble names. Though expressing your righteous indignation in a way your child might have to live with for the rest of their days might be a tad self centered, we can only assume they knew their application would be rejected. We can, however, agree with New Zealand’s regulators that no child deserves to be named Sex Fruit. Sadly, the New Zealand Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act of 1995 didn’t save little Number 16 Bus Shelter from his or her fate.
