The Telegraph writes about the new love for Greek baby names among celebrities:
[Robin] Williams had promised his daughter wouldn’t have a “mad celebrity baby name” but something “very solid, old-school”. Theodora is certainly that – nearly 2,000 years old, to be precise.
Of Greek origin, meaning “God’s gift” – from theos (God) and doron (gift) – Teddy has it in common with Theodora Richards, daughter of Rolling Stone Keith and model Patti Hansen, who made up for such a sound choice by then landing her with the middle name Dupree.
Picking the right name can be tricky, and Mr and Mrs Williams aren’t the first high-profile couple to turn to ancient Greece for inspiration. First, there was Zachary, the son of Elton John and David Furnish, whose name comes from Zacharias, another Greek word meaning “remembrance of the Lord”. Kourtney Kardashian, the younger sister of American reality TV star Kim, named her daughter Penelope (from penelops, a predatory bird); while actress Hilary Duff’s toddler is called Luca, from the Greek Loukas, or “man from Lucania”.
I was reminded of a book I recently came across called Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069. It argues that history is driven by a repeating cycle of generations: idealist, reactive, civic, and adaptive. In the most recent iteration of the cycle, the boomers are "idealist", Generation X is "reactive", Gen Y is "civic", and the generation to come will be "adaptive".
I'd be willing to bet that a traditional baby name was Williams' wife's idea -- she's a "reactive" Gen Xer, while he's an "idealist" baby boomer.
Given my profession, I'm hoping the next generation of "adaptive" college students aren't so focused on consensus-building that they let classroom discussions die, or write dull papers (she said ironically).
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