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Oscar Baby Name Hall of Fame - Charlize, Maximus and Latika
Filed under: Celeb Kids, Celeb Parents, Baby Names
In the depth of every February, America gets a little dose of glamor to get us through the winter doldrums. A sparkling Charlize Theron or Halle Berry floats to the Oscar podium for a shiny gold statue to later display on her bookshelf (or in her bathroom or closet, if we believe the self-deprecating interviews).
American parents love to take a little of that glamor home with them -- in the form of newly-minted, Oscar-approved baby names.
Checking out the popular-name charts, it's clear that the names Charlize and Halle benefited from big Oscar bumps after their famous namesakes took home award night gold. Charlize came out of nowhere to leapfrog old favorites like Colleen and Deborah. Halle sailed for years after Berry's emotional 2002 acceptance speech for "Monster's Ball." And it's not just the girls having Oscar night fun. "Gladiator," the testosterone-fueled best picture winner of 2000, sent the impossibly macho name Maximus soaring. The golden glow of a winner rubs off.This year, though, parents aren't likely to have as much to "thank the Academy" for. A bumper crop of '70s biopics yields slim pickings for name hunters: Harvey (Milk)? Dick (Nixon)? Most parents will pass. Even a best actress win for the beautiful Kate Winslet won't do much for her name, already an established classic.
But there may be one Oscar winning film with a real shot at influencing America's naming trends. It's the Cinderella story of the year, "Slumdog Millionaire." A story of the slums of Mumbai may seem an unlikely source of naming inspiration, but the Indian film industry has surprising power over names, even in the U.S. Bollywood superhero flick from 2006, "Krrish," made the name Krish one of the fastest rising names in America.
Some of the "Slumdog" names like Jamal and Salim are already familiar to American ears. Even more likely to rise is the name of the female lead, Latika. It's not tough to picture little Latikas fitting in with all the Lilys and Annikas running around U.S. playgrounds. The fact that Latika is is played by the stunning Indian actress Freida Pinto will only sweeten the deal. For boys, I'd look toward lead actor Dev Patel. Dev is the kind of short and snappy boy's name that parents are always after.
Ask The Name Lady is a new feature from the creators of BabyNameWizard.com. The Name Lady will be weighing in every week on all things names, and answering your questions! If you have a question to Ask The Name Lady, drop her a line.
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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 1)
2-23-2009 @ 7:53PM
CT Reader said...We all associate names, positively or negatively, to the people we have met who have them. By picking a name associated with a famous interesting or beautiful person I guess we are increasing the chance that everyone's associations with that name will be uniformly favorable.
Reply
2-23-2009 @ 10:16PM
Graham Lawlor said...Very interesting perspective. I had never considered it but I guess movies must have a big impact on personal behavior. Who the actor who went without an undershirt in a movie once and all of a sudden nobody wore undershirts again? I'm looking forward to meeting all the Charlize's and Halle's in a few years...
Graham.
Reply
2-24-2009 @ 11:33AM
Alex said...I'm looking forward to all kinds of new names coming from Bollywood and other movie making places. Should make the choice of naming babies more complicated, but the results should be more interesting.
2-24-2009 @ 11:58AM
Muriel said...Fascinating and well written column. I'm intrigued by the generational shift from my youth when everyone was named Mary of Jane or Bill or Bob. I wish this column had existed (and warned me) when we gave our daughter what we considered an exotic name -- Lisa!!
Reply
2-24-2009 @ 11:57AM
Geri said...What a cool observation. I never thought about it before, but at the end of the night, I was searching the recesses of my brain to remember the name Latika. so thanks! It is a truly beautiful name that I am sure will inspire many new names.
Reply
2-24-2009 @ 3:53PM
Kat said...Don;t forget that Harvey Dent was from dark knight as well!
He was a great character in the Bat Man movie, I can see why people would want to emulate his positive qualities
Reply
2-25-2009 @ 8:33AM
Boounty2009 said...I had never thought about choosing a name for a film, though I have toyed with "jack" or "jacob" because I'm such a lost fan! I think the celebrity name thing is sometimes taken a bit far - "pax" (brangelina's choice) is an item of furniture from Ikea! The meaning of a name is really important to me (im 32 weeks pregnant) so I definately wouldnt go for "side table" or whatever pax means! I've found this site really helpful http://www.bounty.com/babynames/ as you can search for names by meaning and orgin. Im thinking Dylan at the moment, what do people think of that? (he is a boy!)x
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3-05-2009 @ 2:27AM
Navi said...Pax means peace...
but anyway, meaning is pretty important, and of you like unique name, by watching the Oscars you can sort of tell if the name you like may be taking a boost (hopefully not a permanent one) in popularity.