Trendy: Is This Soccer Star's Baby Name Really So Bad?
The name world has been chewing over another outrageous celebrity baby name: Trendy, the name soccer player Gabriel Zakuani chose for his son.
Per Wikipedia, Zakuani is already the father to two daughters, Destiny and Heaven. Destiny, Heaven and Trendy. How's that for a sibset?
Word names can be tough to pull off, but the real heat behind the snark over this name has to to with Zakuani's inpsiration: Twitter. As UPI reports, Zakuani's wife, Shanice Petrie works in fashion, but that was only one source for the name. According to Zakuani:
The official reason was she wanted something to reflect that. But it was me who came up with Trendy. People have asked if his name is because of 'trending topics' on Twitter. Maybe it was in the back of my mind.
Two things must be said. Zakuani was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. So as with the baby named Facebook, cross-cultural differences in name practice could be in play. Another thing? Trendy fits the, if you will, "trend" of building a plausible name out of acceptable boy name parts.
"Tre" as an opening for boy's names peaked around 1990, when Trent and Trevor were mega-names (think Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor). Trent, Trenton, Trevor and and Trey remain popular today. As for -dy, Andy, Brady, Brody, Cody, Kody, Freddy, Grady, Randy and Rudy all testify to this ending's appeal.
So Trendy. It's Trent + Randy, Trevor + Andy. We concede it rhymes with Wendy, hence feels potentially girlie. But still, it's not such a stretch, sound-wise. And as one commenter on our Facebook baby post had it, "If I were going to name a baby after a social media site I'd go with Twitter. At least it's something cute and birdlike!"
What do you think of Trendy as a baby name?
--L.R.
Comments
I really, really hate it. (And I don't usually hate celebrity names.) Would you name your kid 'Popular'?
It's a bad name. Trendy is kind of a negative word to begin with. If you are going to go with a word name at least choose one with a good meaning. Truth, Justice, Peace, not Passing Fad!
I really don't hate any baby names (except for like when that NJ couple named their kid Hitler). Trendy is fine in the grand scheme of things. I do though think that some celebs give interesting, cool names that are thoughtful (ex. Jolie-Pitts, Beckhams) ... then others give names that they think will drive up their popularity (Shayne Lamas' Press). I kinda wish celebs thought more about the kid and less about making headlines. Giving one's baby a buzzworthy name has become a career-furthering step - like getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Well, at least it's spelled right. I'm suddenly imagining Tryndee or Trendeigh catching on.
Lol @Anonymous on Trendeigh. That's clearly the girl spelling.
Suzy, that's an interesting point. An interesting baby name can be a real key career moment for a celeb. Like how I can't help but feel a little warmer toward Tori Spelling since Hattie.
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