Tina Fey's Baby's Name: What Do You Think?

Tina Fey's new daughter's name gets a big "eh" from us.

 

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

We love Tina Fey, of course, and offer our heartiest congrats to the actress/writer/comedienne on the recent birth of her second daughter. But we've gotta be honest: we're not 100% in love with the funny lady's name choice -- Penelope Athena

True, it's a nod to Fey's Greek heritage -- which we appreciate -- and it's a decent enough fit with the name of the baby's big sis, Alice. (Fey clearly has a thing for granny-chic names, as do we, for the most part.) So there's that. But it's such a huge, exaggerated, obvious nod to her heritage. There's nothing subtle or clever or unique about it.

But clearly, we're in the minority, because Penelope's popularity is on the rise: According to Nameberry.com, the name, which means "weaver," cracked the top 200 on the Social Security Administration's list of popular baby names in 2010, up from a ranking of 946 in 2001.

We do like the cute nickname possibilities though -- like Penny, Nell and Poppy (although we can't see Fey calling her daughter Poppy with a straight face) -- and international variations on the name -- like the Spanish "Peni" and the Polish "Pelcia" -- way more than the name itself.

What do you think?

Chime In
What do you think of Tina Fey's baby name choice?
Chime in now!
    More to Explore
    Natalie Portman's Baby's Name: What Do You Think? Natalie Portman just announced her son's name - Aleph. It is the first letter of the Hebrew and Arabic alphabets, and is tied to Portman's Israeli heritage. MORE
    Singing to your baby: 13 lullabies In our busy world it's easy to forget the time-honored practice of singing to our little ones. Lullabies provide a joyful, soul-soothing way to calm your fussy baby or to help lull her to sleep (and to calm yourself at the same time). There is j MORE
    Tori Spelling Reveals New Baby Girl's Name Tori Spelling tweeted out the name of her new baby girl born on 10/10/11, and in case you missed it, here's the big reveal: Hattie Margaret McDermott. MORE
    Baby Name Trends 2011 In 2011, baby names will shy away from heritage names to really focus on first impressions -- and making a good one. “Parents are now naming the way companies choose brand names,” says Laura Wattenberg, founder of MORE
    Mariah Carey's Twins' Names: Likes or Yikes? So Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon finally revealed the names of their new babies via Twitter and Mariah's web site -- but were the unusual choices, son Moroccan Scott Cannon and daughter Monroe Cannon worth the wait? MORE
    Name My Baby: Survey Says Parents Have Name Regret Over 8% parents report baby name regret, according to a recent survey from yourbabydomainname.com. Name regret was most common (53% percent) for monikers that were considered 'fashionable' at the time of their baby's birth while 32% were sorry that their child's name had become a 'common' name, according to the Huffington Post. MORE
    Advertisement

    'My Best Idea' Clip of the Day



    Advertisement