Naming Inspiration Quotes

We didn't name Birdie before she was born. When she came out I said, 'I think we gotta go with Birdie, I think that's her name.'

'Lauder' is a favorite because the name of the song is a friend of mine who passed away.

Jack Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion, so I took part of his name. I admired Rocky Marciano, so I took part of his name.

I eventually thought of SpongeBob, but he needed a last name - SquarePants came to mind.

I changed it to Leslie Hill, only that seemed more like a cocktail pianist. Eventually, being an admirer of Jack Benny, I took his name.

I'm named after a horse. My mom's best friend had a horse named Brooke, so my dad suggested 'Brooklyn' as a more formal version, and it just stuck - and now I live in Brooklyn part-time, so go figure.

One or two people have named their children after characters in my songs. That's pretty intense.

I named him Todd Chavez after a guy I went to middle school with, whose last name was Chavez and who I always liked. He had a good energy, and something about his spirit felt Todd-appropriate.

My son's name is Dirk - I named Dirk Pitt after him when he was about three years old.

Charles Dickens was an avid seeker of names - he read directories and looked for odd names on gravestones.

I was named Margaret Yvonne. 'Margaret' because my mother was very fond of one of the derivatives of the name. She was fascinated at the time by the movie star Baby Peggy, and I suppose she wanted a Baby Peggy of her own.

Our original name was Wild Country, but when we first went to The Bowery, they had the name of all 50 states around the edge of the club, so we went to the sign that said 'Alabama' and stuck our band name underneath it.

One of the bibles of my youth was 'Birds of the West Indies,' by James Bond, a well-known ornithologist, and when I was casting about for a name for my protagonist I thought, 'My God, that's the dullest name I've ever heard,' so I appropriated it. Now the dullest name in the world has become an exciting one.

'Iggy' was my dog - he was named after Iggy Pop - and 'Azalea' is the street where I grew up; together, they have the right amount of syllables to make the perfect name.

I was looking for a last name that was a first name. Growing up, I knew a kid who was the most obnoxious kid I ever knew, and his last name was Herman.

My friends back in Barcelona called me by that name (Picasso). It was stranger, more resonant, than "Ruiz." And those are probably the reasons I adopted it. Do you know what appealed to me about that name? Well, it was undoubtedly the double s, which is fairly unusual in Spain.

We did a book signing and people came up to me. There was an expectant mother who was like, "I think we might name our child Zach because of your work."

I'm good at - or, rather, I like - giving names to characters.

My friends know I'm a really big movie buff, and I named Vivianne after a movie character. She was named after Vivianne Walker in 'Ya Ya Sisterhood.'

I was like, 'Prince, prince. Prince Ali. People know that from 'Aladdin.' I'm a big fan of Muhammad Ali. I can't be Muhammad Ali. I'm looking up royal - Mustafa. Mustafa's a royal name. Prince Mustafa, OK fine.' Prince Mustafa Ali came from that, and it's an easier name for people to remember, too: Prince Ali.

My nickname is Mishti... I am named after mishti doi!

In 2014, when my wife, Courtney, was expecting our daughter and we were contemplating a name, I said, 'How about Finley?' Only after Courtney said that she loved the name did I reveal that it was inspired by an aspect of Samuel Finley Brown Morse.

I'm curious to know how many newborn babies will be named Jeremih after my second album.

My mother used to paper pictures from movie magazines on the wall of her bedroom. When I was born, she looked at those pictures to decide on a name for me. Claudette Colbert's picture was up there and so was Loretta Young's. She decided Loretta was the prettiest name, so I was named after her.

Years ago, I thought up the name Queen...It's just a name, but it's very regal obviously, and it sounds splendid...It's a strong name, very universal and immediate. It had a lot of visual potential and was open to all sorts of interpretations. I was certainly aware of the gay connotations, but that was just one facet of it.