Karon Riley named his son Kal’El, which in Kryptonian means “Christ, couldn’t my dad just name me Bill?”
Last week, we brought you the story of the New York Times’ worst name contest. It was a close competition, with entries ranging from “Ima Hogg” to “Chastity Beltz.” The winner – if you could call her that – was Cleveland’s own “Iona Kniple.”
Some might call this naming a form of child abuse. “Someone who would give these children weird names is not thinking of their well-being,” says Nancy Darling, a professor of child development at Oberlin…
This article appears in Apr 23-29, 2008.