A Croatian priest is putting up cash for parents who opt out of the wild baby naming trend and decide to go with something more traditional.
So we take it Bronx Mowgli and Pilot Inspektor are out?
Father Petar Mikic has put up the Croatian equivalent of $174 for every parent who walks into his church for a baptism with a "normal" name. He's even put together a list of suggestions, including Ante (remember, this is Croatia), Petar, Ana and Marija.
"Anything suspicious
is out of the question," Father Petar Mikic told the daily Jutarnji
List. "We have to prevent Croatia from becoming diluted and
disappearing since it is through names that one can know to which
nation he belongs. Our ancestors are being honoured by giving children
national names."
I'm one of those "not common, but not strange" baby namers, myself. We didn't want every child on the playground turning her head when we called our daughter's name, but we didn't want her to end up in a class of fifteen Brittneys either. And since we all know money talks, I'd say the good friar's on to something. Although as a Catholic, I bet a teeny part of Father Petar's plan is to get parents in the door who have a saint's name lined up to make baptism easier (Catholic kids traditionally bear the moniker of a patron saint, which is why there used to be a lot of Marys and Josephs running around whose parents used their middle names to reference them).
Of course, Father Petar suggests parents name the baby after a saint . . . or a grandparent.
So you've got to wonder what's he going to say if Grandma's real name is Nakoa-Wolf Manakauapo Namakaeha Momoa?
Image: FabFinance
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