As if Google, the ubiquitous search engine hasn’t been used enough for other things, now it turns out, at least according to the New York Times, that new parents are using Google to not only assist it thinking of names, but to help ensure that names that are picked don’t have negative connotations.
The Times has done some research on this and found that new parents have all manner of reasons for Goggling prospective baby names, most based it seems, on attempting to avoid saddle their new loved one with a name that might mean something less than pleasant to others. For example, if your last name is Gacy, you might not want to name your newborn John Wayne, i.e. the same name as the notorious serial killer. Or in other less extreme examples, there might be a porn star with a name that sounds innocuous enough, but that might cause problems for a child growing up.
Also it seems, someone has already written a book on the topic: “The Baby Name Wizard” by Laura Wattenburg, who told the times that most parents are looking for a name that sounds pleasant, is somewhat unique, but doesn’t have any negative consequences for the child. Google, with its seemingly endless data-servers with answers to seemingly everything, can help.
The paper also found that a web site called Lilsugar – for prospective parents has done a study on the ways that parents figure out what to name their kid and found a whopping 64 percent had used Google to help them narrow down and vet their child’s name.
It should come as no surprise to most people who use the web on a regular basis, most have come to rely on Google as a new piece of the puzzle that makes up their life. Where before, people would sit around and wonder about things, then shrug their shoulders in their ignorance, now, all they need do is bring up Google, and within just a few seconds, the answer to their question or solution to their problem has appeared.
Indeed, Google has become so pervasive that it, like Kleenex and Band-Aid have become brands that define a complete genre. Yes, it might be true that there are other search engines on the net, but how many people are asking Yahoo or Bing to help them pick out a name for their new baby. Not many likely, and that’s because Google is the gold standard for not just searching, but for helping to solve life’s little problems.