Jamie McCarthy/WireImageWhat's with the name Penelope Scotland Disick? Don't celebs do weird names anymore, or was that just a fad?
—G., Palms, via the inbox
Oh, make no mistake: Celebrity baby names will continue to twist our minds into quivering pretzels for many millennia to come.
For every Penelope (thanks Kourtney Kardashian) or Samuel (compliments to Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner on that one) we still have yet another Marlow or Monroe or some baby named Princeton:
Let's drill down by looking at the latest celebrity births. Penelope, born this week to Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick, does have a traditional first name.
But her middle name, Scotland, is as trendy and celebrity-esque as it gets. Place names have been all the rage in Hollywood for years, as evidenced by two of the Beckham children—Paris and Brooklyn—as well as Gwen Stefani's son Kingston; Egypt, son of Alicia Keys; and Chris Hemsworth's new girl, India.
Yes, there are some signs that a few celebrities are calming down in the baby-naming department. Maggie Gyllenhaal just birthed a girl named Gloria. Jack Osbourne has given unto us a Pearl. A girl named Mabel has been born to Bruce Willis. Bryce Dallas Howard has a new daughter named Beatrice. And, as baby names go, Charlize Theron's boy's name, Jackson, falls, for the most part, on the sane side.
But, the evidence shows that unusual baby names are still the norm out here. Actor Anthony Hamilton recently debuted baby Princeton. Jillian Michaels has two new babies named Lukensia and Phoenix. There is now a child out there named Maple, thanks to Jason Bateman.
Jackson Rathbone (he of the Twilight series that features a baby named Renesmee) has fathered yet another Monroe. His is a boy, though it should be noted that Mariah Carey's daughter has the same name.
Who else is out there? I can barely keep up: Elliotte, Exton, Dallas, Kennedy, Hudson, Kez Sunday, Sonny, Emet Kuli, Clover, Gray, London, Talus, Ray Holiday, Merrin, Astala, Zayne, Dylan, Hawkins, Hudson and...
Do I have to keep going?