What's In a Name?

Take a look at that picture there and tell me what kind of a cruel person would refuse to print the child's name on a cake. How can anyone even think that this child is evil enough or unworthy enough to have his fondest desire... to have his name on a birthday cake for his 3rd birthday... denied on the grounds that the grocery store where the request was made deems the name 'inappropriate'? What could have led to such an obviously wrong decision on the part of a ShopRite grocery store in New Jersey? Perhaps because the child in questions full name is Adolf Hitler Campbell.

Now there are lots of parents out there who have very unusual choices of names for their kids and I grant you that most parents want their kids to have a unique enough name that they 'stand out'. Why name your child George or John when there are tons of those running around? Why not something unusual that will ensure everlasting noteriety as they grow up? Case in point, a friend of mine ran for student government president in college. He had a great platform and could have made a real difference. The problem was he was running against James Bond. When it came time to give his speech my friend gave a wonderful one that lasted several minutes. When his opponent came up to the mic he started off by saying, "My name is Bond. James Bond." The crowd went nuts and from then on it didn't matter what he said or promised, he won the election by a landslide.

In a case like that the parents of the child obviously had some sense of humor and figured a name like that probably wasn't a bad thing. Naming your child Homer Simpson isn't going to help him much as most people would assume (rightly or wrongly) that the kid is about as intelligent as the cartoon dad. But whatever someone decides to name their child, they need to realize that within your family anything goes but once you go into public, you will be under scrutiny as people use the name. Now in the case of Adolf Hitler Campbell, his parents (Heath and Deborah Campbell) stated that they wanted their children to have unusual names and that the public should learn 'to look to the future rather than the past'.

According to Heath Campbell, now that there is a new President and that we are on the verge of a new era for our country, it's time for people to be more open to alternate ideas. Unfortunately for their little son Adolf, he's going to be the one suffering the consequences of his parents radical ideas for bringing about change within our country. And it's not just their 3-year-old with an unusual and controversial name; they have a daughter named JoyceLynn Arayan Nation and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie. Now in case you're wondering, Campbell states that neither he nor his wife are racist and have thrown birthday parties for their kids for where kids of mixed races are invited. That's all fine and dandy but the names of his kids and the fact that he enjoys wearing combat boots from German World War II soldiers is a bit... odd isn't it?

I mean wanting to name your kid Luke Skywalker will have lots of people screaming nerd at the parents as well as the kid but having a kid named after a known monster who openly practiced genocide is something else completely. Sure there shouldn't be guilt by association in naming your child after someone famous but had they named their kid Adolf instead of Adolf Hitler then perhaps they wouldn't have had as much trouble getting a birthday cake. And while they profess to not being racist or supporting the ideals of Nazism, why is it then that they once tried to get swastikas (the bad kind... not the good kind) placed on their kid's birthday cake? Maybe to teach their kids about the significance of their name? Well that's a fine a lofty goal but its a bit twisted for me.

It's quite possible that the kid won't grow up to become as despicable a person as his namesake but one thing can be said for certain; he's not going to have a very easy time and unless the Campbells move to someplace that fully embraces the idea of having a child named after a monster in our fairly recent history then I pity the harassment this child is going to undergo as he gets older. If you want to make a statement or teach a point to society as a whole, then by all means use yourself as the point of contention. Don't use your kids as the experiment and expect that the world will see a cute face and think that everything's all fine and dandy.