One of the fun things about following celebrity pregnancies is the big name reveal after the birth. It's fun to see how superstars maintain the brand (Britney's sons with their NASCAR names, Gwen Stefani's an homage to reggae's greatest). We roll our eyes! We coo with delight! We cock our heads and say, "huh. Wouldn't have gone with that myself."
So the normal names -- the easy to say, easy to spell, easy to remember -- are sort of a let down. We gawkers want to feel something after following a celebrity baby bump for three trimesters. Or at least we'd like to know we aren't completely self-absorbed doinks like they are (Peanut, anyone?). Which is why Hollywood's newest baby's name isn't making such a splash.
Henry Story Driver, Minnie Driver's newborn son, is a real snooze. But know who totally approves? Bruce Lansky, self-annointed baby-name guru and author of 5-Star Baby Name Advisor. He gives Driver two thumbs up for her name selection.
He says, "unlike some celebrities, she was considering names her child could live with comfortably."
I spoke with Lansky about Hollywood baby names and have studied his baby name book. Sure, celebrities can go off the deep end (Peanut, anyone?), but Lansky's clearly an old-fashioned guy. He wants easy to spell, easy to remember, nothing to ridicule and famous examples that could be mentioned with pride.
Here are his thoughts on some of the newer famous babes:
Nicole Kidman's baby Sunday Rose? Besides the fact that Sunday was born on a Monday, Lansky says Sunday Rose sounds like the name of hired help.
He fears Vivienne Marcheline Jolie-Pitt will have to clarify she goes with the French pronunciation of [viv-YEN] rather than [VIV-i-an] (I sort of think the world has plenty of time to practice.).
The Jolie-Pitt commitment to include an "x" in each boy's name has been a big disappointment. "The Latin pronunciation of "Pax" is "pocks" ... and Knox? Fort Knox?" Too much of an invitation for jokes (Knocks-knocks?).
Honor, Jessica Alba's daughter, is too unusual and ties her to a career at the bench (how bad could that be?).
Photo: Reuters
