Photo: DexonDee, Krakenimages.com / Shutterstock, Paramount+
There are unique baby names, and then there are "oh come on" baby names.
By John Sundholm — Written on Mar 21, 2023
Many of us have that TV show or celebrity that means the world to us, and for some that fandom even inspires the name of their child. I went to school with a girl named Madonna, for instance, named after, well, Madonna, while a friend of mine middle-named her baby Paul after her greatest musical inspiration, Paul McCartney.
But sometimes these names can go just a bit too far into being kind of strange — even by the standards of today’s era of unique and often downright weird baby names.
Like a guy on Reddit, for example. As he shared in a post to the “r/AmItheA–-hole” (AITA) subreddit, his sister named her baby after her favorite TV show, and the name was so off-the-wall he couldn’t hold his tongue about it.
A guy scolded his sister for giving her baby a 'stupid' name from her favorite TV show 'Yellowstone.'
The family doesn't even live out West, where "Yellowstone" is set. "We live in Delaware," he replied flatly when a fellow Redditor asked about it.
"She needs to name her baby like he will grow up, and not give him a ‘cool’ baby name," he went on say, echoing many who think parents should be thoughtful about the fact their babies will have to live with their names forever.
But his sister did not take kindly to his advice.
The man’s sister wants to name her baby Cowboy, after the many cowboy characters in 'Yellowstone.'
“My sister is obsessed with the show ‘Yellowstone,’” he writes, adding that “her husband is willing to do anything to make her happy,” so he didn’t object when she said she wants “to name their baby Cowboy.”
For the uninitiated, “Yellowstone” is a wildly popular drama series on Paramount Network starring Kevin Costner, a sort of “The Sopranos” meets “Dallas” (or a rip-off of “Sons of Anarchy,” depending on who you ask) set in the world of a Montana cattle ranch and an adjacent Native American reservation.
The show’s dramatic soap-opera storylines about the Dutton family ranch and the sweeping Western vistas that provide its backdrop have had quite an impact on people — “Yellowstone” became the most-watched show on television over the course of its season 5, which resumes summer 2023.
Count this man’s sister among those who are seriously wrapped up in the series—definitely too much, according to her brother. Naming your child after a “Yellowstone” character with an actual name, like Costner's John Dutton or unhinged femme fatale Beth Dutton, is one thing.
But simply naming your child Cowboy? Well, you gotta hand it to this mom-to-be, it’s certainly unique — and her brother isn’t having it.
The man is adamant his sister not use a weird baby name because he is afraid the child will be made fun of.
"I know I should have kept my mouth shut,” he writes, acknowledging that her choice of a weird baby name is not his business. “It's not my circus or my monkey,” as he put it. But he worries about the child being made fun of for his name.
“I just know the absolute s--t that kid will go through,” he writes. “So I told her to consider that she was naming a person who would eventually be an adult.”
And as he went on to reveal, he’s speaking from experience. He himself was given a pretty weird baby name by his own parents. Thankfully, though, “our mom and dad at least had the decency to only give me Danger as a middle name,” he writes, referencing the iconic line from “Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" seen below.
“Yes I've seen the f--king movie,” the man sniffed after revealing his weird middle name. But despite being a man actually, literally named Danger who knows what he’s talking about when it comes to weird baby names, his sister isn’t giving one inch.
"She thinks I'm an a–-hole for calling her name choice stupid,” he writes. "I think I'm trying to save him from a lifetime of bullying until he legally changes his name."
Research suggests names really do affect our lives in all sorts of ways — and weird baby names mostly have a negative impact.
People on Reddit were firmly on the man’s side. “Not the a–-hole, Cowboy is a stupid name” one person proclaimed. “I’m surprised she didn’t want to throw some flair on the spelling,” another user cracked. “Maybe like Khaowbhoy.”
The data suggests these people are somewhat in the right to object to weird baby names, however, because it turns out our names have all sorts of impacts on our lives.
A study at Marquette University found that the more unique a person’s name was, the less likely they were to get hired for a job. And other studies have found that our names affect our lives in ways we may never guess, from the professions we choose to what kinds of stocks we buy when investing.
It can even affect our charitable giving — a study once found that people were significantly more likely to donate to relief efforts after a hurricane if their name and the hurricanes share an initial.
And this is all before we even talk about what happens when a name falls out of favor—if you ever go to Germany, for instance, you better hope your name’s not Kevin.
So the bottom line? At least statistically speaking, little Cowboy is likely going to have a rougher go of things down the road—but of course, there are always exceptions. You don’t exactly hear the Sigourney Weavers and Benedict Cumberbatches and Engelbert Humperdincks of the world complaining about their weird baby names, after all.
So maybe Cowboy will be just fine. Though as one Redditor pointed out, there is a precedent about this sort of thing that we should maybe defer to. ”In the words of country legend Willie Nelson,” the commenter wrote, “‘Mamas, don’t let your babies grow up to be cowboys.’”
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.