Cheesy Baby Names

Like Penryn, another building that I pass everyday on the way to work is named Monterey. It's such a lovely sounding word, one that would probably work well as a persons name. And why not? Back in the 80's, I was a big fan of a cartoon called 'Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers'. The show featured the existing chipmunk characters of Chip and Dale, plus their new friends Gadget Hackwrench, a young female mouse and the team's pilot, mechanic and inventor, and little housefly and sidekick, Zipper. But my favourite was the burly adventuring Australian mouse named Monterey Jack – Monty to his friends, and Cheeser to his mum.

So I find it easy to see Monterey as a name. Cheeser or Cheese not so much. And apparently most people have similar feelings. Headlines were made late 2013 when BabyCenter released results of a survey of half a million American parents that revealed that three of those parents named their child Cheese in 2013. Three is not enough children to show up on the official SSA lists, so we can't really verify if that is true or not. We can only hope that those three responded incorrectly as a joke.

Although Cheese as a given name leaves a child open to ridicule, there are plenty of other ways to subtly honour your love of (or obsessive cravings for) cheese with your choice of name for your child. And it's been a while since I did a “just-for-the-fun-of-it” list, so here goes!

Abertam		Caravene		Lairobell		Rubens
Airedale		Carlow		Leafield		Rushan
Alverca		Colby		Leyden		Sakura
Ambert		Crescenza		Malvern		Samso
Ambrosiana		Croghan		Margotin		Sardo
Ameribella		Crowley		Maribo		Siraz
Anari		Crozier		Minas		Sirene
Aura		Derby		Montasio		Stilton
Azeitao		Dunlop		Mycella		Tala
Balaton		Emlett		Myzithra		Teifi
Banon		Esrom		Niolo		Telemea
Beaufort		Filetta		Nis		Toma
Berkswell		Finn		Orda		Tometta
Bosworth		Friesla		Orla		Tommes
Braudostur		Gowrie		Parenica		Ulloa
Brick		Graviera		Parrano		Vacherin
Brie		Kenafa		Penbryn		Wellington
Brin		Kernhem		Piora		Wensleydale
Bryndza		Kiri		Rodoric		Winnimere
Capretta		Kishta		Roncal		Zamorano
Capriola		Korall		Roquefort		Zimbro

Thanks to Cheese.Com and Wikipedia for the great ideas ☺

What do you think – would you consider using any of these? Or is the idea just too “cheesy” for you?