What's in a name?

I'm sure if anyone reads this blog, they've already read my wife's post where she "officially released" our son's name. Fox Carson Rutherford is the name we've chosen, and we've gotten several interesting responses regarding our choice.

What's amusing is that when people ask what name you have planned, they also tend to offer their opinion on that name. Like we are conducting a survey or something. I understand when family or close friends give their opinions; that's pretty much expected. What has surprised me is the opinions you get from acquaintances or total strangers. I guess I just find it odd that people I barely know start trying to offer suggestions on "better" names that what we've already chosen.

In actuality, most everyone who has asked has loved the name Fox. There have been very few people who have made negative comments, but what is really interesting is the comment those detractors have seemed to fall back on: that having a boy named Fox will forever doom him to being beat up every day at school. I just don't see the connection here. How in the world does having a slightly unique name automatically cause a child to get beaten up?

One guy recently said that he would have to get our son some boxing gloves to defend himself. I found that image hilarious. Who do you think is more likely to be picked on, the boy with the cool name that all the girls love, or a kid walking around school wearing boxing gloves?

Ok, that's a bit of a stretch, I know. So, Michelle and I have been conducting our own research. Michelle sees quite a few students every day in her job, and teaches large classes of incoming freshmen. She has asked every kid with a unique name how they felt about their name. I'll let Michelle comment on the actual percentage, but I believe it's almost unanimous that they loved having unique names.

I've also been doing a bit of reading on youth violence. Does naming your child something weird/different cause them to be more susceptible to being picked on? Here's a link to a page of statistics on youth violence from the National Center for Personal Injury and Control.

Scroll down to the section entitled "Risk Factors" and see what they have determined puts kids at risk for being bullied. Read them all...you'll find that a weird name is not on that list.

Maybe it's that Johnny Cash song that has given people the idea that a child's name would cause him so much grief. We aren't considering a girl's name for him. Fox is most definitely a boy's name. We got it out of a Baby Names book under the "Boy" section.

I think the issue may have somewhat of an age bias as well. It seems that folks our age or younger think it's the coolest name they've ever heard. I think times have changed, and the names that our parents picked have become passe' for the current generation. Of course, this happens to every generation...some names go out of style, while new names come in to replace them, or older names become stylish again. I suppose Fox could be considered a new name in this case. (Of course, once he becomes famous and well-respected, expect a whole bunch of families to start naming their sons Fox.)

I mean, check out the cool boy names that a lot of my friends have chosen:
Jackson
Aiden
Cash
Ranen
Clark
Gabriel
Noah
Gavin
Garrett
Grant

These are all interesting names, and a little off the beaten path. I applaud my friends for choosing unique names, and I doubt that any of these kids will get beaten up over it. I mean, would YOU mess with a Gabriel or a Jackson? I think not.