Geek Culture: Hello, My Name is... Like?

Over the years, I've heard of some pretty damn ridiculous things, but this one may have just taken the cake: An Israeli couple has named their brand new baby girl Like, as in the Facebook "Like" button. Yes, seriously.

Parents Lior and Vardit Adler chose not to go with the most popular girls’ names in Israel right now — Noa, Maya, and Tamar — and instead go for a more unconventional approach.

The father said it’s important for him to give his children names that aren’t used anywhere else — at least not in Israel. Their first two children have unique names as well. One is named Dvash, which means honey in Hebrew, and the other is named Pie. The name wasn’t meant to be a gimmick or a way to make money from Facebook. The father said the word "like" had a "nice and international ring to it." He added that Facebook had become the icon of today's generation, but so did disco in the 70s, and you didn’t see anyone naming their kid Mirror Ball.


Although, this is not the first example of strange, tech-inspired baby-naming; in fact, one Egyptian couple named their baby Facebook, stating that they wanted to honour the social network's role in the recent Egyptian Revolution.

The least strange method of baby name selection is to go through what names you like, and checking to see if the corresponding URL is available, and going from there. A small but growing number of parents are getting domain names for their young kids, long before they can do more than peck aimlessly at a keyboard.

It's not known exactly how many, but the practice is no longer limited to parents in Web design or information technology. They worry that the name of choice might not be available by the time their babies become teens or adults, just as someone claimed the ".com" for Britney Spears' 11-month-old son before she could. Granted, this is less of an issue for those of us not in the public eye.

The trend hints at the potential importance of domain names in establishing one's future digital identity. Although some parents have yet to use the domain names they've bought, others are sending visitors to baby photos, blogs and other personal sites. Domain name owners have a variety of options to have their personal sites hosted, either for free or less than $10 a month.

With all of these new tech-inspired baby names, I've decided I'm going to name my next kid, Qwerty.