Celebrities are (in)famous for selecting unusual names for their children. When one considers the fact that many of these highly creative parental name-givers were born with conspicuously non-conspicuous names themselves, this pattern becomes even more intriguing.

Can you guess which celebrities had the following names on their original birth certificate?

• Calvin Broadus
• Shawn Carter
• Thomas DeCarlo Callaway
• Alicia Cook
• Robyn Fenty
• Elizabeth Woolridge Grant
• Ben Haggerty
• Peter Hernandez
• Paul Hewson
• Curtis Jackson
• Alecia Moore

While you are thinking about it, here are some recent ear-catching names for celebrity baby names:

• Kim Kardashian and Kayne West named their daughter “North”.

In the Canadian Language Museum‘s interview with Karen Pennesi, the Western University Professor and Vice President of the Canadian Society for the Study of Names shares her thoughts about the social uses of names.

Click here to read the interview.

This web app graphs the popularity of individual names. Check out your name!… Read More

This xkcd comic shows which letters are most commonly used in the names of car models.… Read More

Bonecrusher. The Motor City Cobra. Boom Boom. The Golden Boy. Smoking Joe.

If these names sound familiar to you, then chances are you have spent at least some time in or around one of the world’s most controversial professional sports: Boxing.

Whether you love it or hate it, boxing is one of the most prolific arenas in the sporting world for the genesis of creative personal names.… Read More