Can Moss come out to play?

Olympia Lightning bolt latest wacky name

I was never one of those girls who played the My Future Baby name game. I hadn’t given baby names a second thought till those two blue lines showed up. I was 26. But the baby’s dad piped up: “I’ve always thought if I had a boy I’d call him Flash.”

I loved it straight away. It did end up being the perfect name for our son.

I wonder if it was Kasi Bennett or usain Bolt who came up with the name for their daughter, Olympia Lightning.

But is it really that unusual, especially as people — and by people I mean especially celebrities — have been giving their children left-field names for decades? I’d wager there are as many shrugs at usain’s great reveal as there are jaws on the floor.

However, back in 2002 when I first introduced the name Flash, I was met with unschooled horror from family and friends, who accused me of everything from selfishness to child abuse. But if you genuinely back a name, it shouldn’t matter what anyone else thinks.

Our second child’s name turned out to be bit of a trailblazer. My choice, Blue, came from a little girl who appeared on TV one Saturday evening when I was a little girl myself. I remember thinking she was the loveliest creature. When my Blue was six, I was greeted at work one morning by a slew of jokey emails: “you trendsetter, you!” and “Ha! you got there first.”

Beyonce had announced the birth of Blue Ivy that weekend.

We had two more boys, called Moss and Wolf.

There are more people following the celebrity trend for names like romeo, Brooklyn, Cruz and Harper (Beckhams) or North, Saint, Psalm and Chicago (Kardashian-wests), Apple and Moses (Paltrow-martins) and Moon unit (Frank and Gail Zappa).

There was a week when he was about 12 that Flash had a meltdown and wished he had a more ordinary name (I think he floated Tom). But he’s 17 now and his name is as much a part of him as his bones. When I mention Olympia Lightning Bolt, he quips that he got off lightly — at least his surname isn’t dance.

I think my choices have a breezier neutrality than, say, Prada, Hashtag, Thunder or Itouch (all real names, encountered in my new career as a teacher).

But the strange thing with names is they quickly lose their unusualness and become indistinguishable from the person themself.

So, welcome, Olympia Lightning Bolt.

PRADA, HASHTAG, THUNDER AND ITOUCH — ALL REAL NAMES.