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Baby Nutella a no-go: How we might be overthinking baby names

A French couple was told they couldn't name their child Nutella. Meanwhile, some parents might pay $35,000 for a team of experts to craft their baby's name. The name game among parents might be getting a little out of hand.

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Dado Ruvic/Reuters/FILE
Nutella are displayed for sale at a FIS supermarket in Vitez March 13, 2012.

A French court has ruled that parents in France must re-name their baby, after writing “Nutella” on their daughter’s birth certificate in September.

According to a translation from Time of a French newspaper report on the court ruling, a judge ruled that in addition to being trademarked, it is contrary to the child’s interest to have a name which will lead to teasing and disparaging thoughts. 

The judge renamed the child Ella when the parents failed to make a court-appointed appearance in November.

Is this the craziest news we have heard in baby-naming? Hardly.

Every week, there is a celebrity naming story, in addition to annual releases from the Social Security Administration on the hottest names around. 

Recently, it was reported that a Swedish agency named Erfolgswelle will find your baby the most unique possible name for the price tag of $35,000.

According to the Daily Mail’s description of Erfolgswelle’s work, “The process of creating a name individually tailored to a family apparently takes 100 hours and involves a vast team of professionals from numerous specialties.”

Those professionals include copywriters, historians, trademark lawyers, and translators.

I am trying to figure out if something is lost in translation.

I am the mother of a William, one of the most popular, and frequently used (some may say overused) names out there. Taking into account our last name as well, we haven’t set the kid to stand out in many ways based on a simple roll call.

We don’t want his name to be the biggest thing going for him. We are saving $35,000 on other things like education, travel, and other life experiences that hopefully might make our Will stand alone as a unique individual.

We want to teach him how to serve others and be loving and kind, to make eye contact and take the time to learn someone else’s name, no matter how unique. And hopefully through teaching him those skills, he will be memorable. 

Good names are cool, but it's the people behind them that make the mark. Parents might want to leave a little in the bank to give their kid what they need to do that.

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