Is it weird to name your child after a friend?

Have you ever considered what names you'd want your children to have? Some may find it weird for me, a 20 something male, to have considered this, but when your last name is Seaman, sometimes you have to think ahead of time when prognosticating the ridicule your children will endure.

One aspect of the naming process that has crossed my mind before is a question of awkwardness. Let's say I really love the name Katie (and I really do for whatever reason, I just seem to know many cute katies), and I henceforth give that name to my first daughter. Then let's say I'm still good friends with someone I grew up with named Katie, wouldn't that be a little uncomfortable? What if you really did name your kid after them subconsciously? Even if you didn't, could they infer that this was the case? Would they ask you? What if you named the kid after your first love and your wife figured it out years later? Well, I can only assume that some people couldn't handle this situation either, so instead of naming their children after their real life friends, you know, the bridesmaid, best man, co-worker, neighbor, whatever, they took the easy way out, and named their children after the most famous Friends of all.

What am I talking about? Well, I first researched this phenomenon a few weeks ago when I discovered a website that graphically charts the popularity of names through the past century. I can't quite remember the original motivation for the Friends study (if you haven't figured it out yet, I'm referring to the popular comedy that ended last year), but I do know that there are certainly many names out there that were given a year or so too early. I'll explain that later.

The Friends study is slightly flawed however, as a large part of the cast does not apply scientifically. For instance, the names Rachel and Joseph/Joey have been so popular for so long (neither reaches beyond a rank of 33rd in the past 4 decades) that it seems impossible to find any correlation between show success and name regularity. The names Monica and Ross hit their peaks in the 70's and 80's respectively, leading to a possible conclusion that their relative dorkiness on the show has negatively affected the proportion of these names given. What seems more likely, however, is the idea that just like Gertrude peaked in the 1900's and was eliminated from the list past 1960, the cyclic nature of these names simply means they are on the decline.

This leaves two names from the main cast on which to test my hypothesis. It makes more sense that these names have been affected so greatly, mainly because they were almost absent from the naming scene prior to the show's success, unlike the other candidates. The stats do the talking for themselves:

Pheobe
1980's Rank: Not Ranked (out of top 1000)
1990's Rank: 709
2003's Rank: 437

That's like a jump of 300 for two straight decades!

Chandler
1980's Rank: 694
1990's Rank: 252
2003's Rank: 263

Although he held constant after the 90's, Chandler boosted the name game 442 spots in one decade! You haven't seen anything yet though. Think 30 something actors have an effect? See what happens when 30 something actors have a baby on their sitcom and even devote the plot line of an episode to naming it!

Emma
1980's Rank: 270
1990's Rank: 71
2003's Rank: 2!!!!!!!

The show left Americans desperately short-handed on creativity no option but to actually move the name of a fictional character up to the number 2 spot of all female names given in 2003. That is pathetic! The name may have been gaining steam prior to that episode, but there is no way you'll convince me that they named the baby as such as a result of the name's growing popularity. Now there will be a whole litter, and I use the word litter appropriately, of girls running around 20 years from now never knowing they're named for a baby that ruined the Rachel character (WORST MOM PLOTS EVER) on a popular sitcom (unless reruns hold supreme?).

Now don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with giving a name that you like or passing along a name popular in the family or anything like that. It just looks silly when it's so obvious where you got the idea from, especially when the name turns sour later. Example?

Kobe
1980's Rank: Not Ranked
1990's Rank: 876
2003's Rank: 268

I'm sure most of these names were handed out pre-rape, pre-GM break-up-a-dynasty Kobe. These kids may have to endure jokes about how much the ring they bought their girl friend cost them for generations to come. Who knows what aspects of Kobe's celebrity will survive the test of time. One thing for sure will be the name.