Wesson, Caliber, Shooter and Trigger.
Five, almost six, months ago, the greatest
competitive professional surfer the world has ever seen, Kelly
Slater, and his longtime partner, Kalani Miller, welcomed a baby
boy. While undoubtedly a joyous occasion, one usually followed with
social media posts announcing the miracle, Slater chose a different
route. Appearing on the popular
Barton Lynch podcast, the 11-time world champion
shared, “We got a little boy and my friends think we’re playing a
game with him, because we haven’t said the name. Because we
actually, we don’t actually don’t call him anything. We gave him a
name for his birth certificate, but, as of now, we don’t have a
name to call him. So, we’re kind of just, like, letting him figure
out what his personality is.”
He then went on to say it took three months to name their dog
and will likely take a year to name the fella.
Lynch, trying to be helpful, exclaimed, “When the name pops it
pops.”
And it is precisely that which is worrying surf fans, this
morning.
A name that pops.
The Huffington Post, a sort of The Inertia for
land-based weaklings, just published a story on the
“trending baby names that glamorize violence.” Sophie Kihm, the
editor-in-chief at the website Nameberry, told the outlet, “There
is a small but noticeable trend of parents using weapons-inspired ―
and, more broadly, aggressive ― names for their sons. Many of these
names first appeared on the baby name charts in the 2000s,
including Wesson, Caliber, Shooter and Trigger.”
Remington, Colt, Ruger, Winchester, Arson, Cutter and Dagger are
also seeing spikes in popularity, according to the Social Security
Administration.
“Most of these names peaked in use relatively recently — Wesson
in 2021 when it was used 306 times, Caliber in 2018 with 24 uses,
Mace in 2022 with 64 uses, Dagger in 2022 with 13 uses,” Kihm
continued. “It’s hard to say if these names have truly peaked in
use or if some will go on to greater use, but I don’t think we’re
past this trend yet!”
She concluded, “There’s a certain set of parents that believe
weapons-inspired names have a renegade spirit, which has been a
rising theme among today’s trendy baby names. Maverick ranks higher
than ever, and cowboy-style names like Dutton, Stetson and Boone
are climbing the charts.”
And we are definitely not past the trend if Kelly lands on
Machine Gun Slater for his charge.
Light a candle please.
