Vanessa Carlton Gives Birth to Irish Grandpa
Is it just the Baby Name Critic, or has there been a celebrity birth idyll? Since the arrival of Wallpaper Lively-Reynolds at the turn of the year, things at Gawker's Baby Name Headquarters have been quiet... too quiet. What could the celebrities be hiding? Or perhaps, from whom could they be hiding?
Well. Vanessa Carlton is not scared. I admire her gumption. The singer, who once opened for the Goo Goo Dolls, gave birth Tuesday to a daughter and a press release about the Tuesday birth of her daughter. Carlton and her husband, musician John McCauley, named the daughter Sidney Aoibheann Carlton-McCauley. Not playing softball here.
Well, let's get right to it. "Sidney" — no. It's the male grandpa spelling of the name, very cute if you give birth to a male grandpa but not a baby girl, who is born with enough hardship to face besides having to deal with people being like, "Oh! I thought you would be a male grandpa!" every time they first meet her. (To be fair, I prefer this spelling to the largest-city-in-Australia spelling that a million girls born from 1994-2008 have.) Also the nickname Sid is unfortunate for a baby for sad crib-death related reasons. And Sid backwards is dis. Not good.
And then there's the Aoibehanaoeinenn issue (it's pronounced "Even"). If you want your baby to have a Gaelic name that is unreadable in English, just name it Celtic Knot. Or get it a little Celtic tribal tattoo. Do not give your baby a name that is like a code only Irish people can solve. Very bad idea. Trust me. I'm Irish.
This has been Baby Name Critic.
Leah Finnegan is Gawker's Baby Name Critic.
[Photo via AP]