Pregnant women in the U.K. are putting off naming their babies until they find out what that other baby will be named, the Daily Mail reports. In a survey of 2,000 expectant parents, 82 percent said the buzz around the royal baby had a “huge” effect on their baby-name choice. Ten percent are “hoping” to put off naming their commoner offspring until they hear what Kate and Will chose, and 42 percent are “willing” to wait. Parents are given six weeks to register their baby’s name, so “record numbers” (“thousands”) of newborns are expected to go briefly unnamed this summer. Keep in mind, this is the Daily Mail reporting on surveys put out by a nonscientific — but very press-savvy — organization called NetVoucherCodes.co.uk. But it makes sense, right?
You don’t want your little Alexandra (or George) to spend the rest of her (or his) life being asked if she (or he) was named after the little princess (or prince), getting mixed up with all the other Alexandras (or Georges) in the kindergarten — who probably were named after the royal baby, after all. Twenty-two percent of those surveyed are “taking inspiration from the excitement of the impending royal babies and are strongly considering naming their child after Royals from over the years.” One hundred percent of parents who recently named their child Alexandra or George are allowed to resent the blameless little royal, in our book. And let this be a lesson to those of us who laughed at Kimye for naming their baby after a direction. There’s safety in originality.
