Nothing we love more than a baby-name post. This is the newest trend.

By KATE HUNTER

Just when we thought we’d seen it all when it came to baby names, a new trend is emerging: the optimistically descriptive name such as Stunner, Mighty, Joyous or Rogue. Like racehorse names, but for people.

I get why people do it. We all have dreams for our kids, but I think it’s a risky way to choose a name.

I remember when our first daughter was born, my husband said, ‘I like the name Grace.’

‘Me too,’ I replied, ‘But what if she’s like me? You know, clumsy. Not graceful. Then it’s like a bad joke.’

It was disappointing how quickly he accepted that.

I think it’s dancing with disaster to saddle a baby with a name that’s a descriptor. There’s too much that can go wrong. You might call your baby girl Jazz, a nod to your love of the genre, but odds are she’ll end up loving death metal and hating you.

For a while now, people have been naming their babies after cities and stones and trees and birds. Every class will have its share of Sequoias and Phoenixs and Sapphires – no big deal. Sapphire might be the Susan of a new generation. I don’t much like it, but I accept it.

But there’s new, far more worrying trend emerging. Some people, regular people, are choosing names like ‘King,’ ‘Prince,’ and for the little ladies, ‘Princess.’

Even scarier, some are going for ‘Greatness,’ ‘Awesome,’ and, ‘Magical’.

A few have even opted for ‘Messiah,’ but with mixed success. One family in Tennessee was ordered  to change their son’s name.  The judge said,

“Messiah is a title that is held only by Jesus Christ, and labelling this child Messiah places an undue burden on him that as a human being, he cannot fulfil.”

Last year in the USA, more than fifty girls were named, ‘Beautiful’ … some had two ls on the end – ‘Beautifull’, full of beauty, geddit?

It’s a new phenomenon known as ‘Narcissistic Naming’ and it’s growing fast.

Jean Twenge, an American psychologist and co-author of the Narcissism Epidemic, notes a remarkable number of people have turned naming their babies into opportunities to show off – a sign of our culture’s increasing vanity. “From the research literature we know that people who score high in narcissism also score high in trait called ‘need for uniqueness,’ ” Twenge says. “When you get into these names that proclaim a child’s greatness, that takes it to the next level.”

I’m with Jean. Mainly because those names restrict a kids’ options to be who they are.

People will say of their newborn, ‘Oh, I knew the second I saw him, he’s a little Maverick, so that’s what we named him.’

Really? You could tell he was a rule-breaking rebel before the midwife put a name band on his little ankle? You might not want Maverick to become  a tax accountant, but surely he has the right to be a buttoned-up conservative without people sniggering about his name. Why not be honest and say you never really got over Top Gun?

The same for a girl called Serenity who might be anything but serene.

Twins called Mercedes and Jaguar might make their car-crazy father happy, but when they’re 17 and sharing a third-hand Hyundi Getz, I bet they won’t be thanking dad for their names.

People expect too much of names. They think a name will shape their child’s personality, or the way society will perceive her.

A baby named ‘Greatness,’ has exactly the same chance of being great as a boy called Brian.

A girl called ‘Princess,’  has more pressure on her to be perfect than a Libby or a Louise. Even real princesses find it hard to be gracious and princess-like, so why pile on the pressure?

You don’t have to be named Unique to be unique – it’s only a matter of time before someone’s called that.

What do you think about descriptive names?