Apple Viggo Moriah Bronx Mowgli Huckleberry Marmaduke Zuma Nahla Honor Shiloh

I thought things were bad in 2004 when Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin named their new baby girl Apple. But it seems that being named after a fruit is getting off easy for celeb kids these days. I guess celeb parents have done away with the traditional baby naming books and instead turned to: NYC boroughs (Bronx), somewhat obscure Bible references (Moriah), Disney movies (Mowgli & Nahla), literature (Huckleberry), and desirable traits (Honor). Where the rest of these crazy names come from is beyond me.

I was motivated to write this post as I read the Passages section of People Magazine's Feb. 2 issue. The Births section included the announcement of a second child for Bear Grylls (perhaps seeking revenge for his own unfortunate name?), host of Discovery Channel's Man vs. Wild, and his wife Shara. The new baby boy is named Huckleberry Edward Jocelyne, and joins older brothers Jesse and Marmaduke. (Yes, that's older brothers.)

Oh, where to begin...first of all, how come Jesse got to have a normal name? Huckleberry could certainly be worse, maybe if he was a boy named Marmaduke, but fortunately for him, that name was already taken...by his brother! My question for these celeb parents is why? Is there some unspoken competition to have the kid with the weirdest name? Have they thought about how their child will feel about their weird name when they're a teenager among judgemental teenagers?

I get that they want their kids to feel special and unique, but aren't they already going to stand out enough as children of celebrities?