Chevy marries Chrysler, fathers little Toyota

More and more, US babies get global brand names from their parents, says the BBC. According to Cleveland Evans, a psychology professor quoted in the article, one reason for the popularity of brands as names is "a growing desire on the part of parents to mark their children out as different." A child is named Armani or Chanel to reflect the parents' "material hopes" for the child, he says: "It is no different from the 19th century when parents named their children Ruby or Opal... it reflects their aspirations."

Evans has found that, over 25 years, seven boys were named Del Monte, 49 boys were named Canon (after the camera), almost 300 girls were burdened with the name Armani, six boys will have to explain the name Timberland for the rest of their lives, and seven boys were branded with Denim (which seems a bit downscale). Car models are popular, this being the US, after all: 22 girls got the name Infiniti, 55 boys are "Chevy" and five girls will answer to "Celica." Six boys were named after Courvoisier cognac, and two boys were named . . . ESPN. And the trend is increasing.

Name me Cynical, but I suspect that, in some cases, there may be more to this than just "reflecting" favorite brands. I could see GM hiring someone named Toyota to pitch their products, or little Denim starring in a GAP ad. By any other name, would they smell as sweet?