We’re now on Twitter — stop by and join the baby name conversation!

Is is just me, or are celebrity baby names really getting weirder? Taylor Hanson, of the rock trio Hanson, and his wife Natalie, just welcomed their 4th child, and named him Viggo Moriah. It’s no Bronx Mowgli, but it’s pretty strange. Viggo has Scandinavian roots, meaning ‘war,’ and Moriah is ususally considered a girl’s name.

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: celebrity baby names, baby names, celebrity gossip, celebrity babies, Taylor Hanson baby name

US Magazine is reporting that singer Usher Raymond, and his wife Tameka Foster, have welcomed their second child, a son, who was born on December 10.

The second boy for the couple is named Naviyd Ely. No indication yet where they came up with the name Naviyd.

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: celebrity baby names, baby names, celebrity gossip, celebrity babies, Usher baby name

Eric Mabius, star of Ugly Betty, and his interior designer wife, Ivy Sherman, just welcomed their second child, a son, in New York City. In another era, the name they chose for their baby — Rylan Jaxson — might have rated some posts in the blogosphere, some praise for being ‘cutting edge,’ and certainly a few ‘tsk-tsks’ for the trendy spelling of ‘Jaxson.’ But that was BBM (Before Bronx Mowglii). It’s now ABM (After Bronx Mowgli). And the world may never be the same.

ABM, it’s pretty much impossible for celebrities to shock the world with a cool or weird baby name. ABM, even the weirdest celebrity baby name has lost its capacity to induce shock and outrage. Rylan Jaxson? Whatever.

Actor Jonny Lee Miller and his wife, actress Michelle Hicks, just welcomed a son as well. They named him Buster Timothy. Oh, really? That’s nice.

See what I mean? Bronx Mowgli has set a new benchmark in celebrity baby names. Everything pales by comparison. I’m not sure that even some of the great celebrity baby names of recent years — the likes of Pilot Inspektor, Kal-El, Moxie Crimefighter, Jagger Song, etc. –  have had the paradigm-shifting impact of Bronx Mowgli. We are just beginning to digest this strange, yet captivating name, and the impact it may have on future celebrity baby names.

But one thing is for sure. Celebrities love a challenge. And if Bronx Mowgli currently reigns supreme as the name to beat, it’s a certain bet that somewhere in Los Angeles, even as I type, a pregnant celebrity couple is kicking around some ideas for a new baby name. Something that will go one better even than Bronx Mowgli. Something that will make Apple, Suri, and Heaven Rain seem as quaint as Tom, Mary, and Linda. Something that may include upper and lower case and at least one numeral. Something so far out, so truly cutting-edge, that it will make Bronx Mowgli seem square.

It’s out there somewhere. I know it is. And I can hardly wait.

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: celebrity baby names, baby names, celebrity gossip, celebrity babies, Ashlee Simpson baby name, Ashlee Simpson baby, Ashlee Simpson Bronx Mowgli, Bronx Mowgli

Now that Thanksgiving is over, and the media hysteria over Bronx Mowgli has subsided, I can get back to some normal posting, hopefully.

But just a quick parting word on the subject of Bronx Mowgli. In the two and a half years I’ve been ‘covering’ celebrity baby names, I don’t think I’ve seen any celebrity baby name get the media and the blogosphere so riled up as the name Bronx Mowgli, which as everyone in the universe now knows is the name of Ashlee Simpson’s and Pete Wentz’s new baby boy.

‘Enough with the crazy celeb baby names!’ railed a blogger on Beliefnet.com, adding that the name gave them an ‘icky’ feeling’. Adam Proteau, writing on The Hockey News site, lamented that Bronx Mowgli sounded ‘more like a crude bedroom act than a decent name for a chiild’ (I have to say, hockey, baby names, and bedrooms do not seem to really belong in the same article). ‘Can celeb tots survive their names?’ intoned Adrienne Mand Lewin, on MSNBC, in one of the rare intelligent articles about the BM contretemps, wherein Ms. Mand Lewin reports that some grown up celeb kids actually like their uncommon names (gasp!)

Perhaps because there was such a firestorm (or perhaps to stoke it even hotter) Pete Wentz felt obliged to give a little explanation. He told one interviewer that he and Ashlee ‘bonded’ over The Jungle Book, and that they simply thought Mowgli was ‘a cool name.’ And why not?

But when it came to Bronx, Wentz refused to share with the world the thinking that went into it. He kept referring to the naming saga as a ‘narrative’ (whatever that means) and that ‘it’s kind of cool to just leave the narrative what it is.’ Exactly. What it is. And what it is, it’s time to move on. Little Bronx Mowgli will hopefully thrive, the world will keep spinning, and everyone who lost it over the name Bronx Mowgli, will, I hope, feel a little less ‘icky’ as time goes by. There are, after all, better things to get really worked up over than celebrity baby names, no matter how unusual.

Save to del.icio.us

Technorati Tags: celebrity baby names, baby names, celebrity gossip, celebrity babies, Ashlee Simpson baby name, Ashlee Simpson baby, Ashlee Simpson Bronx Mowgli, Bronx Mowgli