What's in a name?

Maybe more than some people realize.

People like the par­ents in New Zealand, that is, who named their daughter Talula Does The Hula from Hawaii. The Associat­ed Press reported last month that a judge made the 9-year- old a ward of the court so that her name could be changed — but not before she’d gone through years of her life without revealing her real name even to her closest friends.

Although most parents don’t get quite this creative in nam­ing their children, it seems there are more out-of-the-ordi­nary names out there than ever before, not to mention unusual spellings of more traditional names. So what is in a name — specifically these über-un­usual names parents today seem prone to choose? And how might the Talula Does The Hu­las of the world feel about their names later in life?

Of course, there are still plenty of traditional names in use today. Emily and Jacob were the names most common­ly given to babies in the United States in 2007, according to the Social Security Administra­tion, and close behind were Isa­bella, Emma and Ava; Michael, Ethan and Joshua.

But come kindergarten, these kids might find them­selves in a classroom with Addelyn, Caydence and Desmond — all children cur­rently enrolled in Cathedral of St. Joseph’s early childhood center. The center even has a Stone (middle name: Phillips), named after the former Date­line NBC anchor.

“I’d say 90 percent are names I’d never heard before,” says center coordinator Lisa Puett, who has worked in childcare centers for 20 years.

And she’s not alone. Day­cares and schools throughout the country likely contain ros­ters full of unique monikers, including the list at Darcee’s School of Dance in St. Joseph.

Among Darcee Blanchard’s dancers are children named Blayre, Tassy, Jessecca, Tayley and Kenzlee; Aspen, Hadley, Kartyr, Heaven and Cedee.

The motivation their parents had in giving them one-of-a­kind names might be the same as that of Ms. Blanchard, who chose the name Kazdyn for her 11-year-old son and Krimzyn Starr for her 19-month-old daughter.

“I have hundreds of students come through my studio, and I was bound and determined to give them names I hadn’t heard before,” she says. “Plus, it seemed to me that kids that have unique names always stand out.”

They also may have to come up with unique ways to live with their unique names, as Kazdyn learned very early in life. He used to get really, re­ally upset, Ms. Blanchard says, when people asked him his name and then couldn’t under­stand what he said. So at just 2, he decided to learn to spell it to cut down on the confusion.

But this isn’t to say that hav­ing a notably different name comes only with downsides. For Krimzyn Starr, her name so far seems to be the perfect fit.

“I just figured she’d be a little sparkling star, and she is,” Ms. Blanchard says. “Plus, her hair ended up being au­burn, and we all got a big laugh out of that.”

Speaking of names matching appearances, Ms. Blanchard notes that she also has a 12­year-old step-daughter named Ravyn who has dark hair — and that “if Krimzyn’s and Ravyn’s names were flipped, it definitely wouldn’t work.”

Krimzyn Starr’s name also works in that she’s quite the show stealer, as she proved during a dance com­petition in Daytona Beach, Fla., in which she was supposed to walk on stage and blow kisses at the audi­ence. Instead of doing this simply as she’d been shown, Krimzyn Starr decided to bend over, wave between her legs, kick her legs and t­hen blow kisses — an impromptu routine that really did make her the star of the show.

And she’s not the only one for whom a somewhat unusual choice of a name turned out to be a per­fect fit — just ask Erin Willoughby, mother of 15-month-old George Bailey Willoughby of St. Joseph.

Through three pregnancies, Ms.

Willoughby resisted giving in to her husband, Rob, and naming any of their sons after Jimmy Stewart’s character in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” But after having her way three times — with Maxwell, Ben­jamin and Samuel — she promised that if they had a fourth son, he could be George Bailey.

“I thought we were done,” she says, “and even after I was preg­nant again, I didn’t think there was a chance we’d have another boy.”

But George Bailey proved her wrong, and he also surprised her — both by being the only red-head in the family and by fitting his name perfectly.

“He’s totally a George,” Ms.

Willoughby says. “I’m very glad that after all my stubbornness, we finally have a George Bailey.”

It seems that at least among these parents, there aren’t any regrets about the risks they took in creatively naming their children — but what will their children think of the names after they’ve had a little longer to live with them?

Although only time will tell, the story of Michele Barton of Cam­den Point, Mo., might offer some insight. Her name itself isn’t un­usual; however, its non-traditional spelling did cause her some trouble as she was growing up — even landing her in the principal’s of­fice during her very first week of school simply because her teacher thought she was lying when she insisted her name had only one L.

“Of course, her name was Mrs.

Redd with two Ds,” Ms. Barton laughs.

Her mother cleared up that con­flict by bringing her birth certifi­cate to the school that day, but even for years afterward, Ms. Barton encountered quite a bit of confu­sion over her name and got used to being called Michael. When it came time, however, to name her own daughters — Kristen and Kinsey, who are now in their 20s — she says she didn’t really take her bad experiences into account.

Maybe that’s because, for better or for worse, they’re part of what makes her name uniquely her own. “I never asked my parents why there was only one L,” she says. “I just always thought it was special.”

Lifestyles reporter Erin Wisdom can be reached at ewisdom@npgco.com.