Parents naming their children. . . WTF are they thinking?

[Jebus]

This one always baffles me. Clearly this is one of the most important decisions most people make in their lives, and they usually have several months to think about it, yet. . . often they arrive at incomprehensible decisions.

I think most would agree with the following statements:

A.The purpose of a name is to make someone clearly identifiable among others.

B.A good name should sound good (and be easily pronounced) in the local language as well as in the English language (and any other language the child is likely to encounter in his/her life).

C.A good name should fly under the radar and not be likely to be subjected to ridicule at any point during the person’s life.

Given point A, why do so many parents choose to name their child John or Mary? I used to live in the Middle East and it was always confusing when someone talked about Mohammed, since about half of all the people I knew were named Mohammed.

I have a couple of thoughts concerning point B. Why do so many parents give their child a long name, such as Alexander, when they never address the child as such, instead choosing to call him Alex? Why not simply name him Alex in the first place?

I am further baffled by parents in non English speaking countries not giving an ounce of consideration to how the name sounds in English. My mother was named Birgit, often to be pronounced, intentionally or non-intentionally, as Birdshit, in English speaking countries. As she was born in 1937 I can’t fault her parents for not making this consideration, but how/why in 2019 do so many Norwegian parents choose to start their kids’ names with Ass, such as As-Bjorge?

Point C should be self-evident but hundreds of parents still choose to name their child Randy or Dick. I just don’t get it.