It is a well-known fact that many of us have developed something of an attachment to our mobile devices. In fact, some smartphone owners could have their devices stuck to their hands permanently, and nobody would think anything amiss. But some folk – or at least, those with an affinity to Apple – have taken their love for their prized gadget a little further, using familiar Cupertino products as inspiration for child-naming.
Apple itself, is not entirely horrendous, and with stars such as Coldplay’s Chris Martin and actress Gwyneth Paltrow opting for that name some years back, it’s not surprising to see the name scoring highly in BabyCenter’s list of the most popular baby names for 2012.
What is particularly alarming / intriguing / surprising / eye-opening (delete accordingly, if you will), is that there’s been a marked rise in babies named Mac, and also Siri. That’s right, Apple’s slightly-annoying, slightly-fun, but also oft-frustrating voice recognition software has prompted parents to utilizing the name for their offspring.
If a child was actually named Siri out of a love for the Siri software, that really would be something, but short of a few of those ridiculous “If this page gets xxxx likes, I’ll call my child The New iPhone” on Facebook, I’d hope this sharp uprising in the Siri moniker has much to do with its meaning as anything else.
Norwegians have developed a liking for the name Siri because it means “beautiful victory” – more than can be said for the technology itself, which isn’t exactly bursting at the seams with win.
As far as male names have gone, Mac has become a more popular choice, with a twelve percent increase on last year noticed by the study of nearly half a million babies.
The naming of children after Android products hasn’t been quite so widespread, but I don’t think the likes of ‘Desire’, ‘Galaxy’, or ‘Wildfire’ would really ever catch up.
Trying not to sound pompous – particularly as I don’t have any children of my own – I would like to think I would not allow my geek tendencies to spill over to the point of naming a child anything symbolic of technology. Still, at least some folk are finding a long-term use for Siri, because I am really struggling!
(via TheNextWeb)
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