Melanie’s Daily Words

Time that Taylor Hanson’s wife had another baby. And have a baby she did! On December 9, 2008, Natalie gave birth to a healthy baby boy, who tipped the scales at 8 lbs., 5 oz.

Here’s the kicker. They named the kid Viggo Moriah.

Courtesy of babynames.com, here’s a little more info on those precious choices.

Viggo:
Meaning: Battle, war-like
Origin: Scandinavian

Moriah:
Meaning: God is my teacher
Origin: Hebrew
*Babynames.com classifies Moriah as a girl’s name.
Maybe Nat and Tay were attracted to the name for its Biblical roots: According to Wikipedia, Moriah was the name of the mountain where Abraham was going to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Instead, God decided that a ram would do because Abraham had been such a faithful guy.

So here’s my evaluation. Considering Taylor and Natalie have never hidden their eccentric taste from us in the past — they are also parents to Jordan Ezra, 6, Penelope Anne, 3, and River Samuel, 2 — I suppose we could have seen this one coming. I considered some strange options, but in all honesty, I never thought it would turn out like this. Viggo is Scandinavian, and hey, so are Hanson. Not a reason to give your child a name that could potentially dent his self-esteem. Also, many are familiar with the actor Viggo Mortensen. I’m afraid this kid might not be able to escape that association.

In the end, to each his own. But I can’t help but wonder if people can love names like these forever. Does Viggo really have staying power? And it’s not like they gave the kid a middle name to fall back on.

Final grade: C-