Dammit. Ingo Rademacher stole my baby name!

Do you remember Ingo? He is an Australian actor who has been in General Hospital for a few years now. I think maybe once he was in Baywatch. Care factor about Ingo would be low EXCEPT that you need to know he and his girlfriend Ehiku just had a baby.
AND THEY NAMED IT:  PEANUT JAI RADEMACHER

This is a huge bummer because Peanut Jai was my first choice if I had a boy. Or a girl. Or a sandwich filling.

Celeb Baby Blog says:

General Hospital's Ingo Rademacher, 37, is a new dad after his fiancée Ehiku gave birth to son Peanut Kai Rademacher on Friday, July 11th.  The couple's first child weighed 7 lbs, 6 oz. and was 20 ½ inches long.  A spokesperson for the show stated that "dad, mom and baby are all great."

Ingo himself told People magazine: "We were calling him that when he was in mommy," Rademacher told PEOPLE about the unusual name. "It kind of represented joy and happiness to us. It puts a smile on everyone's face."

I look forward to the day when Peanut decides he want to become a bank manager. Or a politician. Or anything other THAN A BABY. The whole wacky celeb baby names situation requires a longer post so I've done one for this weekend's Sun-Herald and Sunday Age columns. Will post here late Sunday.

Comments

[s]

mmm... i can just see the "joy and happiness" that will bring to little Peanut when he starts going to school. Though it is true that it will probably put a smile on all his friends' and teachers' faces...

i don't get it! don't they love their kids? don't they THINK AHEAD a little when they name them...

i guess he can always go by Kai. and change his name when he's old enough. imagine if he becomes a dr or something. dr. peanut is ready to see you now. Gosh! the credibility that inspires...

[Mel]

I wonder if Apple, Sunday, Peanut, Honor, Knox and Moses will end up playing together. The kids of kooky names.

[melanie]

Get this...Jason Lee named his kid PILOT INSPEKTOR (yes, with a k).

I'm thinking of calling my son Brik-head. You like?

[Dreamqueen]

These poor kids ... but you know who it really hurts is the regular mum and dads who follow suit and call their kids those names ... these are the kids that get ribbed and bullied in the school yard. The celebrity kids not so much because they are cool and different because they have famous parents!!!!

[gigdiary]

Dreamqueen, that is so true. The Knox Grammars and Piloh Sh*ts, I mean Shiloh Pitts, will go to celebrity school, where all the kids are named after vegetables, esoteric concepts or ancient Aztec planting seasons. It is the poor kid at Toongabbie Primary who'll cop it. Then again maybe not.

Today, outback here in the west there would be more Somali or Hindustani names at Girraween Public than there would be John Smiths. More Xzen Ngos than even Kylies. Heck, back in my day, there weren't even any Kylies. Going to school as 'gigdiary' was a real challenge I can tell you. Thanks, Mum!

[Cerry]

I think people over estimate kids sometimes - not saying Apple, Sunday, Pilot and Peanut won't get paid out. But Honor probably won't, because in the US, that's what you do (Hope, Destiny, Charity...ringing any bells?). And I'd say that Knox and Shilo won't have many problems either. Yeah, they're unusual names, but I've grown up with Ceiridwen, and aside from the fact that no one can spell pronounce it, it hasn't been too bad. Most people tend to be fascinated by people with unusual names (to a point, of course. Apple and co are past this point), and the only people who ever gave me crap with my brother and his friends, which is pretty much what brothers and their friends do.
But seriously, if I were Peanut, I'd be telling everyone my name was Jai for as long as I could get away with it.

[Richard]

Until now, I didn't realise that I had Peanut allergy. It makes me want to vomit at the thought of these people breeding again and again.

[Richard]

Wait! With a little more thought and by changing just one letter, they could have called him:

"Peanut Jar"

Now that has a ring to it!

[Liz]

Well Coco is not exactly an ordinary name..

[lu]

With 4 kids at school I have heard some really shocking names inflicted upon innocent kids. I think thats it says a LOT about the parents.

Most people think of a name that a child will carry for life that suits them and will not make them stand out like a freak. For the rest it actually says mum and dad are looking for attention and will get it any way they can even if it means giving their kids crazy names. So for the celebs, they are in the business of seeking attention (though not all of it on their terms) so the freaky names serve a purpose and feed their egos.

[Cerry]

There's a difference between an uncommon name and a weird one, though - Coco is a bit unusual, but it's a nice name. If it's been picked right, it will suit someone right through life, rather than just being cute when they're a baby (dark haired, dark eyed girl, for example, especially one with tanned skin). Probably wouldn't choose it myself, but that's more because my friends would spend eternity making jokes about my chocolate addiction than anything else. Peanut, on the other hand, is never going to really suit anyone.

[lu]

I think Coco is gorgeous. Quirky and cute. My daughter Isabella has a friend called Cinderella, now that is child abuse!

My kids have pretty safe names Isabella, James, Sarah & Max. I do hate people telling me that their dog is called 'Max'. That makes me want to thump them. Its a human name not a canine name!

[Cath]

Peanut itself is pretty nuts (pardon the pun), but if they shorten it to 'Baby Pee' while he's little, that's just plain wrong!

And these parents need to be aware that their kids will not be the only ones in la la land with 'individual' names, and whoever they end up being friends or lovers with could make things even more ridiculous. I would not put it past some celebrity dingbat naming their daughter 'Butter'. She could very well end up with Peanut, and it's not that much of a stretch to imagine them naming their first kid 'Sandwich'.

And if Jason Lee's son Pilot, ends up getting into John Travolta's son, Jet, (not that there's anything wrong with that!), the parents only have themselves to blame!

[JLo]

Don't worry Mia, there are still plenty of good names you can use that haven't been taken yet.
What about Vegemite? or Nutella? or Creamed Cheese?

Or if you don't like the spreads, and you liked the name Peanut, how about Almond? or Brazil? (Actually that's a good one coz it's a nut AND a place, double kudo points for that one!)

I will be looking forward to your birth in anticipation to see if you have taken any of my suggestions on board.

[melanie]

Funnily enough, in Thailand, you have your given name, but everyone has a nickname and that is what you get called in life. The nicknames are really bizaar - all nouns. My cousins names are Cream, Butter, Turtle, and Cottonwool. I have friends called Pillow, Frog, Apple, Star and Bird.

Mia, why don't you be really chic and call your child Brisbane or Hobart? Worked for Paris!

[gigdiary]

melanie, how lyrical! not at all practical in Australia, but all the same, if it is a custom, how interesting. Are the given names too complex for daily use ? Perhaps we could just move to numbers, like computer code. number.number.number, ie, parentage, sibling status, individual number. And then we could all revert to nicknames, like before, Bluey, Smithy, Sal, Di and Tiny (who'd be really big)

ah those Thai are wise, and not a Peanut amongst any of the cousins....

[gigdiary]

I don't think Brisbane or Hobart would get a run, both being surnames of previous governors of NSW, back in the convict days, the Rum Rebellion and all that. Although speaking of the Rum Rebellion reminds me of a situation recently in the CBD.

Three drunks, two men and a woman, were pulled up by a policeman. The constable enquired about their state of sobriety, and asked for their names. Not wanting to be held liable for his behaviour, the first bloke swayed around and seeing a sign across the road said 'David Jones, occifer'. Quick as a lark, the woman saw another sign and said, "Joyce Mayne, your honour'. The third drunk took a while to get with the game, but did catch on, 'yes, your worship', he drawled, '...my name ish....'Kentucky Fried Chicken'.

[Dataceptionist]

hey gigdiary did you hear Joyce Mayne died?
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Kelvin-ate-her
{kelvinator}

Cerry I LOVE your full name, but then anything Welsh or from British mythology is A-OK in my book.
I struggle that all the "interesting" and unusual names I want by husband vetoes as he reckons they're "poofy"
bah

[Cerry]

Oh, that reminds me...Why is there no asprin in the jungle?

Cause the parrots eat em all (I know, totally unfunny)

Dataceptionist, I actually don't mind it myself. I just hate that I constantly have to spell it out and repeat it until people can get the spelling and pronounciation right.