Sandra Bullock Named Her Son After an Icon. So Did Readers
Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' played when Sandra Bullock first met her adopted son, and bam, the little boy was dubbed Louis Bardo Bullock. We turned to our delightful readers, the Pop Chorus, to hear their own tales of pop culturey baby-naming.
We heard from a couple who named their son during a Rush concert, a woman who melded an Ozzy Osborne song with a Joan Jett rock anthem for her daughter's name, a mother of five walking tributes to TV and movies and more!
Benjamin Williams says:
My wife and I had a very hard time trying to decide what name we would give our first child. Driving home from the hospital, we turned on the radio and heard a live version of
'Lorelei' by Styx. My wife and I had never heard the song or the name being used in our lives. There was something so adorable and fitting about the name -- we looked down at our little bundle of joy and knew, from that moment on, Lorelei was her name.
Trisha Vaughn says:
When I found out I was having a boy, I knew in an instant I would name him
Gavin, to pay tribute to the hottest grunge singer that has ever taken stage,
Bush's Gavin Rossdale. A year later, I found out I was pregnant again, this time with a girl, and I lobbied hard for to my husband to allow her to be named Gwen, after Gavin's wife, the beautiful Gwen Stefani. My husband shot me down each time. I even tried to make Gwen her middle name, and he would not have it. We ended up naming her Kierra (pronounced "Keira") after
my husband's favorite actress, Keira Knightly. (He had a picture of her framed next to his bed when I met him, so... I think in the end we both named our children after celebrities we love.)
Melissa Vance says:
My name is
Melissa -- I was named after the Allman Brothers song. It's my dad's favorite song and he always told me he knew since the first time he heard the song, if he had a daughter, that would be her name. Not only did I always get to hear the that story, but he would always sing me the song before I went to sleep.
When I became pregnant with my son, I knew I wanted the same experience for him. I pictured rocking him to sleep singing the song of his namesake. Before he was born, I was driving and James Taylor's
'Sweet Baby James' came on the radio. In that moment I realized I was going to call him James. As my father had called me 'Sweet Melissa' all those years, I could call my son 'Sweet Baby James.' He is two now, but every night I still sing him the song. Maybe some day he'll carry on the tradition.
Drew Moss says:
When Rush played in 2008, I thought I'd swing by the box office the day of the show to see if any killer seats opened up. My seats just weren't good enough. Fast forward a few hours later, when I offed my original pair of seats on a co-worker and escorted my very pregnant wife (a very casual Rush fan at best) down to the fourteenth row, right in front of vocalist and master bassist
Geddy Lee. My wife and I had been playing with rock and roll names to begin with (Jagger? Too pouty. Cash? Too morbid. Lennon? Too pretentious) but had not yet settled on anything we loved. Plus, we didn't know the baby's gender.
From first few bars of 'Limelight,' our little one started to flat-out rock in mommy's tummy. During 'The Spirit of Radio'? Forget it -- the kid was on
fire. Things didn't stop until the last thunderous chords of 'YYZ.' Then, and only then, did baby take a breather. "Boy or girl, it's got to be Geddy," my wife said to me. "It's strong. It just... rocks." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. And I wasn't asking twice. So weeks after that gig -- Geddy Davis, our second beautiful boy -- was born. So far, every time I break out my bass to practice, he takes it from me and won't let go. So my chops are suffering, but his aren't.
Dorothy Lansman says:
Riding to the hospital to have my daughter, my husband and I didn't have a name picked. 'Close My Eyes Forever' by Ozzy Osbourne and
Lita Ford came on the radio, followed by 'I Love Rock 'n' Roll' by
Joan Jett. My belly was rocking, and our daughter was kicking along with the radio. Right then we knew she had to have a rock 'n' roll name, and we named our daughter Lita Joan. Even today, now that she's 7, she still loves to rock out to music of all sorts, and her favorite songs are by Lita Ford and Joan Jett.
Tara Marie Singley says:
My oldest daughter got her name,
Celea, from an old Don Knotts/Tim Conway movie called 'The Apple Dumpling Gang.' My second child was named after Jane Seymour's
Michaela Quinn on 'Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman' -- coincidentally, my daughter Michayla was born a beautiful red head. Third came my first son, and I know a lot of people will laugh at this one, but while I was pregnant with him, I became a huge fan of the WWF character
Stone Cold Steve Austin. My oldest son is proud to carry the name Austin.
When I found out I was pregnant for the fourth time (surprise!), I was flooded with emotions. Then I found out I was having twins After several months of searching for just the right names, I was so frustrated. One night, I sat down to watch a couple movies and relax, first watching an old favorite, Patrick Swazye's 'Roadhouse,' in which, of course, every girl falls in love with
Dalton. I followed that with Bruce Willis's 'Armegeddon' and found myself crying like a baby by the end. I was so enveloped by Liv Tyler's character that I knew without a doubt my little girl had to be named
Gracie. There was no further discussion about names for these two little ones -- my movie night had settled it. A few weeks later, I gave birth to beautiful, healthy twins who are now ten years old, Dalton Isaiah and Gracie Lee Ann.
My children are my pride and joy and have made all their names proud ones to carry. I mean, come on -- people name their children after breakfast foods nowadays. If anyone considers me odd, I tell them I do not have a single child named Pop-Tart.
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Wild Celebrity Kid Names
Moon Unit, daughter of rock legend Frank Zappa
Tony Frank, Sygma / Corbis
Tony Frank, Sygma / Corbis
Wild Names of Celebrity Kids
Our Facebook friends chimed in, too. Here's what they had to share:
Kym Nicolosi says:
My daughter Stephanie was named after
Stevie Nicks, whose real first name is Stephanie. I'm the only one my daughter will let call her Stevie. Every time we hear a song that Stevie is singing, I remind my daughter what an incredible singer her namesake is.
Shirley B. Jusino says:
My dad saw the movie 'The Little Princess' with
Shirley Temple with my sister and two brothers. He went to sleep and had a dream he had a daughter that looked just like her. The magic happened that night, and nine months later I came out. I looked like Shirley Temple until I was about three, then I resembled Pebbles from 'The Flintstones.'
Jule Beachboard says:
I named my son after
Andy Gibb. I was sitting in a laundromat while I read The Enquirer; there was an article that said he had died. I was a month or so away from my due date and couldn't decide on a name and had always loved Andy Gibb, so I decided to name him Andrew and have never regretted it.
Bernie Cobb says:
My parents named me after
'Weekend at Bernie's.'
Malisa Ortiz says:
My daughter is named after the
Iron Maiden song '22 Acacia Avenue.' I am a huge Maiden fan!
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Idiots all.
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Your two words are too true! If you give a baby a weird name, he starts life with a stigma that will be hard to ward off, and he will blame you as he should.
Idiots all indeed.
Oh thank God . This is a break through . The first stupid Sandra story in three days
I think it's great that names have meaning like that! That can make a seemingly ordinary name special. It's better than naming your child something bizarre just to stand out, like a lot of celebrities do. They're setting their child up for a lifetime of ridicule. I named my daughter after a Sunshine family doll I had when I was a child. The mom doll's name was Steffany, and I thought that was a very pretty way to spell it. Very feminine. My husband freaked a little at first over the spelling, but has since adjusted, since she's 19 years old now! And no one can ever spell her name right!
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Which is YOUR fault. Naming a child something silly/stupid and/or with a freaky spelling just sets the child up for a lifetime of jokes and annoyances. Most parents have more respect for their children than that.
Why did you not name her Styx like the river?
AGree with #1. Nuts. All of you. As if the nation/world don't have enough problems to keep us all busy solving them all- what a better boner distraction than agonizing over this stuff. Guess you can't expect too much from the asleep-at-the-switch Idol crowd. Aye aye.
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all i can say is " that moon unit chicks bf, or hubby, or what ever he is; very scary, very scary indeed "
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I'll grant you your probable youth. Moon Unit (now just called Moon) is the infant. Her parents are the adults in the pic, and the "scary" guy is the late Frank Zappa, lead of the "Mothers of Invention" in the 1970s and one of the great rock icons of all time..a man of enormous talent and wit.
thats frank zappa, silly
And the Bullock publicity wagon keeps rolling along.
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I have always liked the name "Lorelei" But not because of Styx, whom I enjoy, but because of The Gilmore Girls and Lauren Grahmn
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Well, now. Aren't all those names just cute! My Uncle Donald, who died a few months after birth, was named Donald LEWIS, Nanny said after the doctor who delivered him. And of course, Reverend Lewis Baptised me, although Reverend Jackson thinks he maybe did it. But I can live with those spellings. But I'm sorry, with a name like Louis Bardo, I hope the kid excels at Karate!
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Actually, my dear racist, no..except the Eastern Eurorean, stimulation-deprived, severly emotionally disturbed, ones
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Good thing she didn't hear Frankenstein - by Edgar Winter on the radio that day ha ha ha ....
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People are adopting black babies because they need homes.
There are so many racists in the US that would rather adopt a baby from another country than an American black baby!
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"Im serious i guess it would be hard to get a white one though.What man wants to raise a black babby.Maybe she should raise that babby in the hood shes full of it she wont do that."
You my dear, are a racist pig!
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Sandra looks very happy in this picture, with her new son. Lucky little guy. She will be a terrific mom.
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YOU GO MORON
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There's nothing wrong with the name Louis. At least it's not "Moon Unit", "Apple" or "Megatron" (or whatever that stupid Facebook name campaign was for)...
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