Recently I read an article on Yahoo! which stated that Fall Out Boy heartthrob Pete Wentz and pop/rock princess Ashlee Simpson-Wentz named their son Bronx Mowgli. I'm not sure whether my initial reaction was more pity for the kid or wonder at why the couple chose to name him after the hood in New York (he's from Illinois, she's from Texas), and the boy in Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book".
Why do people name their kids the way they do? Sometimes the child is given a family name, or they are named after a person or place that is significant to the parents. Oftentimes a child's name is chosen because the parents simply like the way a name sounds.
Names don't seem to mean as much now as they did in the past. In the Bible, a person's name reflected his personality or some other characterisitc of him. Today we know less and less about the meaning and origin of names. Does this mean that names are losing their significance?
Over the years I have collected miscellaneous note cards, bookmarks, etc., with the meaning of my name printed on them, which according to varied sources is "loved one", "cherished one", or "pure one". But my parents chose to name me Kara not because of any of those things, but because my dad had said that if they ever had a daughter, he wanted her name to be Kara. So that's my name.
There are several names that I would take into consideration for the children I hope to have someday. A couple of them remind me of other people, but most of the names I just like. Should I research the meaning behind the names? Maybe, but that might be difficult and unreliable, especially since I like sort of trendy names. Even though the meaning and origin of a name might be unknown, will I think twice before naming a kid something really trendy? Most definitely. I'll just remember Bronx Mowgli Wentz. :)