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As if it isn't difficult enough to find an amazing name for your own baby! One family from New Jersey is offering strangers the opportunity -- if that's the right word for it -- to name their newborn daughter, who is their ninth child and eighth girl. In order to qualify, participants must bid for the right to name their baby -- with bids starting at $20,000. The winning stranger will become an honorary member of their family who receives invites to the girl's bat mitzvah, graduation, and wedding. Sign us up?!
The baby's dad, who originally put an ad on Craigslist looking for willing participants, says he believes this is a good opportunity for anyone who has never had children or is looking to honor a relative or someone who died in the Holocaust. Mom and dad do have a few rules: they'd like one biblical and one non-religious name from each participant. Also, the name cannot be "Box" or anything crazy that some Hollywood actor weirdo might come up with.
I was all on board with their idea -- I didn't even mind the fact that they had become super-lax when it came to naming their baby. I mean, I'd be out of name ideas after baby #4, I'm sure. And I think it's a really sweet idea to ask strangers to honor their loved ones by suggesting names of people close to them or who died in concentration camps.
But then they decided to get all nutty and ask people to bid for the right to name their girl -- and they aren't planning on donating the money to charity, which would also make this seem like a stellar plan on their part. Part of me feels like, well, if someone is willing to do this and sees the benefit -- why the heck not? More power to this family. But a bigger part of me feels like it's pretty icky to accept money to name your child.
Are these parents going to be okay revealing the origin of their little girl's name to her? Will the money be placed in a college savings account for her? So many questions!
What do you think of this family's willingness to let strangers bid for the right to name their baby girl?
Image via handmaidenbymaria/Flickr
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