The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Weird and wonderful baby names revealed.
Babies have been given some original names in past year
It is one of the biggest decisions parents make and it seems there is no shortage of originality across Scotland.
A series of unique monikers has been revealed in the National Records of Scotland (NRS) full list of names given to the 52,911 babies born across the country in 2017.
While most take the safe option by favouring the traditional, the annual account of baby names has thrown up surprises.
On the boys’ side, some of the stand-out rare names include Blade, Bleu, Braxx, Daisy, Destiny, Jhy, King, Md, Rembrandt, T, Testimony, Tiger and Tucker.
For girls, Aberdeen, Afroditi, AuroraBelle, Bella-Caledonia, Elektra, Envy, Heaven, James, M, Pennylane, Porsche, Sailor, Tully, Tuppence and Ultra-Violet are instant head-turners.
TV shows like Game of Thrones continue to be a source of inspiration with the likes of Arya, Khaleesi and Sandor inspired by the popular characters.
The silver screen also has a bearing with dozens of Lukes, Leias and Kylos from Star Wars and Disney-flavoured Elsas, Olafs and Meridas.
It is unclear if the rise in popularity of Jeremy, Vladamir and Donald show a political leaning.
Place names continue to be wellused, especially the Scottish islands, and there are two Alyths.
Parenting groups hailed mums and dads for their creativity but warned some of the names could lead to problems in later life.
Justine Roberts, the founder of Mumsnet, said: “Everyone finds their own baby uniquely marvellous, and it can be tempting to emphasise it by dreaming up a brand new name for them.
“Mumsnet users are divided on this: whether an unconventional name sounds strong and dramatic or just plain silly can depend very much on your personal taste.
“One piece of advice is to consider whether the name would still work if the child in question became a High Court Judge. But then, life really would be very boring if we were all called Mark or Susan.” While most of the research that has been carried out has been inconclusive, public surveys suggest unusual names can have a negative effect on people’s life chances. Recruiters performing the first cut of CVs have even confessed to rejecting candidates with “foreignsounding” names as a crude way of reducing the numbers of applications to read through.
Other studies have indicated that the name itself is not the most significant factor. Dalton Conley, author of Parentology: Everything You Wanted to Know about the Science of Raising Children but Were Too Exhausted to Ask, believes being raised by parents whose character leads them to choose an unusual name is far more influential in the long term than growing up with the name itself.
A recent poll carried out by the parenting site found that more than a quarter, 26%, of parents had a name they were not brave enough to use.
Of those, nearly half, 45%, were ultimately rejected on the grounds that they were too “quirky”, while 18% of parents backed out over fears that their child would be judged.
A separate list released by NRS revealed that Smith, Brown and Wilson remain the three top surnames in Scotland.
They have been the most common surnames recorded in the registers for over 40 years, based on five-yearly analysis going back to 1975.