Naming your child after someone famous - not on purpose!!!

[icantthinkofaname2001]

So I have a little boy on the way and really like the name George..

problem being is our last name is Lucas.

For anyone who doesn't know, he made the star wars and Indiana Jones films..

1. Did you know this fact?
2. Will anyone know/remember this when he's at school?
3. Does it really matter?

xxxx

I wouldn’t know who that was, I like the name

Yes, Yes and maybe. George Lucas is pretty much up there with Steven Spielberg in director/producer fame stakes. Whether that matters is impossible to know - your son might not mind the "like the Star Wars/Indiana Jones guy?" comments and think it's cool (if he becomes a fan of those films) or he could find it upsetting/annoying (so I don't think I'd risk it myself).

Similar names to George - James, John, Joel, Mark, Charles, Edward, William?

If you really like the name George, perhaps you can add in a meaningful middle name so it’s not just George Lucas, for example George Alexander Lucas. Or you can have George as a middle name, such as Christopher George Lucas?

Decent bloke? No problem.

A criminal? Maybe not!!

I have a very common surname so it was difficult to find names that weren’t those of a famous person. I have one son with the same name of a huge movie star ( who wasn’t that famous at the time DS1 was born) and DS2 has the same name as a famous ( at the time) sports star.
DS 1 loves his name as he gets lots of attention because of it, Ds 2 no issues as his peers have never heard of his namesake although people over the age of 45 raise an eyebrow now and again

I don't like Star Wars, Indiana Jones or Game of Thrones so it wouldn't even have dawned on me if I'm honest. the only reason I know who he is is because of the Big Bang Theory!

I'd use it and it wouldn't bother me.

I'm the only "me" on Google and it pisses me off because I'm so easy to find, it's one of the reasons I barely use social media. I'd quite like to share my name with someone who'd make me less identifiable!

My son has a middle and last name the same as a famous singer who I love. I knew I couldn't get away with calling him it for first name so I put it in the middle! My husband hasn't realised, he just thought it was a nice name. 😬👌

Never heard of him not into star wars or GOT. By the time he grows up a bit I can't see it being an issue, I doubt that generation will know him either unless brought up into star wars stuff! Wouldnt put me off

On the first page of Google there's a musician called Killian Murphy whose Twitter hand is '@ Not the Actor'

Not quite the same thing, but journalist Ben Ando has in his byline details of his various positions and organisations he's worked for and then finishes it with 'Despite all this I can still hear the drums'

There's a child at my DS's school called Alice Cooper. Unsurprisingly, she's a girl, but I still wonder if it raises a lot of eyebrows when people over a certain age hear her name or meet her.

That said, even though I couldn't personally care less about Star Wars/Star Trek (whichever one it is), I wouldn't bank on George Lucas' name sinking into obscurity for a very, very long time. He's considered up there as an all-time great. If your surname was Chaplin and you called your son Charlie, you'd still get loads of people instantly making connections with the famous one, even though he died over 40 years ago. A lot of film stars and directors are just like that.

How about changing your family surname to Smithee and calling your baby Alan?

Also, I'm sure that the famous GL is a very decent, honourable, respectable man. BUT, you never know what might later come out of the woodwork at a later date for anybody famous.

It's probably a good thing that the name Rolf never really took off in the UK - in fact, it's so rare, you don't even need to use any surname.

yy webuilt best to avoid famous names in case anything negative happens.

Only if he's born on May the 4th.

I have taught a Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson, Courtney Cox and an Ella Henderson (different schools).

I'm more surprised that there are people commenting who haven't heard of Geroge Lucas. It's one of those names like JK Rowling where you don't have to be a fan of any of their work or have watched/read it to know about them.

I wouldn't choose it. Especially given the comments here from people who know people with famous names and get comments on it all the time.

I would not mind. I know James Brown, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael Jackson... these are fairly standard names so the famous people cannot be expected to 'copyright' it.

If your surname was Gaga or Bowie I'd suggest against using Lady and Bowie as first name but if your surname is more 'standard' like Lucas and you like the name George (or Matt) ... go for it!

Years ago there was a jake,Alfie and Danny on east Enders
We don’t watch the soaps and called our son one of those names
That wouldn’t have been a problem but his fathers other son was one of the other names
We took endless jibes about it-it just wasn’t funny anymore
Thankfully time moved on and nobody comments but George Lucas is a bit more memorable than some actors from a soap
I wouldn’t do it but I do agree that George is a lovely name

Endless jibes because you called your kid Alfie?

Is your surname Moon? @Rainbowandscarlett

There's a child the same age as one of mine called Ben Affleck, we seemed to be after them at every vaccine and hv appt at the drs and it was hard to stifle a giggle when their name popped up on the screen for their appt. At school there's also a Louis Tomlinson, Mohammed Ali and Davy Jones

Star Wars came out 45 years ago and George Lucas is still very well known. I think it’s unlikely that he’ll have been forgotten in the next 5 years before your baby starts school.

(I’m reminded of the 2012 baby names thread where the OP wanted to use a Game Of Thrones name and was confidently told that everyone would have forgotten about it by the time her child started school).

Not a Star Wars fan, know who George Lucas is: I think its also unusual enough that people would think it was done on purpose. Can't imagine anyone is going to forget his name over the next 15/20 years. And as has been said: you never know what is going to come out of the woodwork about anyone these days, and also he's 76 (just googled!), still professionally active but lets say he passes away at some point in the next 10-20 years, there would be huge retrospectives of his work on tv and lots more discussion about him. I'd avoid. Some names - Cilian Murphy is a good example - are so common (I appreciate that will mostly be in Ireland) that its not so automatically connected but I think George Lucas is an unfortunate mix of very well known and not such a common mix of names.

@limegreenbogie

There's a child the same age as one of mine called Ben Affleck, we seemed to be after them at every vaccine and hv appt at the drs and it was hard to stifle a giggle when their name popped up on the screen for their appt. At school there's also a Louis Tomlinson, Mohammed Ali and Davy Jones

It could be just a coincidence? But equally likely, parents could have liked that link or deliberately chose the name because of it? In regards to Mohammed Ali, I have been told that Mohammed is used by many Muslims as a first name and Ali is apparently quite a common surname so I wouldn’t immediately assume that it was due to a celeb connections.

I know James Brown

We had him as our prime minister once! It would have been so funny to see PM James (Gordon) Brown gettin' on up like a sex machine in parliament

Completely by the by, we've had three PMs with the name James, who publicly went by their middle names - James Gordon Brown, James Ramsay MacDonald and James Harold Wilson; meanwhile, James Callaghan's first name was Leonard!