The naming of the shrewd

News is that Victoria Beckham (nee Adams, a.k.a. Posh Spice) and David Beckham have named the latest addition to their brood, a girl (finally!), Harper Seven Beckham.

Victoria with Harper Seven Beckham

Now-a-days it seems that celebrities are quite partial to off-beat baby names. The Beckham's have three boys, before the fourth (named Seven) came into the fold. The boys are named Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz (middle names, Joseph, James and David respectively).

Who can say why people choose to label there children with unusual names (nay, nomenclatures). For example Christina Aguilera named her son 'Max Liron.' Milla Jovovich named her daughter 'Ever Gabo.' Alicia Keys' son is called 'Egypt.' Although a tad less off-beat, among her peers, with names for children, Gwyneth Paltrow named her daughter 'Apple' and son 'Moses.'

And this is not just a recent trend, Arthur Ashe, the late former tennis star of the 70s, named his daughter 'Camera.' Christie Brinkley, a supermodel before photoshop was invented (and a woman I would still give up everything for) named her daughter 'Sailor Lee.'

The Brangelinas are an extra special example in that not only are the names they have chosen for the children unique (daughter, Zara Marley; son, Maddox Chivan Thornton; daughter, Shiloh Nouvel; son, Pax Thein; and twins, Knox Leon and Vivienne Marcheline, but they have chosen to have children of various races as well to make things (and their families) that bit more interesting. Angelina Jolie is truly a UN goodwill ambassador like no other!

Of course celebrities parents aren't the only ones who give their kids unique names – but they are the only ones who make news or are read about with interest. So when non-celebrity child names do come up in the news, the names are pretty much incredible. For example: Urhines Kendall Icy Eight Special K was born on February 15, 2003; GoldenPalaceDotCom Silverman was born May 19, 2005 (it should be said that the internet casino by the same name paid US$15,000 to name the baby after itself; and got more value for it in the form of media attention).

While it may seem that such names could condemn the child to not just years of teasing but also to failure, have heart. A Filipino senator was named 'Joker Arroyo' – his brother was called 'Jack' – because of his parent's love for cards. Talk about a poker face when they told the registrar what they were calling their new born. The real punchline is that the good humoured senator's daughter was also named 'Joker Arroyo.'

Apparently unusual names are pretty common in the Philippines. The following are actual names of people: Bing, Bong, Ping, Ting, Led Zeppelin, Mick Jagger, Nirvana, Jejomar (a combination of Jesus, Joseph and Mary) and even a Hitler Manila, whose sons are named Himmler and Hess. And for those who believe the names play a part in developing one's personality, Hitler Manila is actually a peaceful guy who doesn't share his namesake's Nazi ideology.

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It really is a strange world out there:

In 1991, Elisabeth Hallin and Lasse Diding wanted to protest the naming law of Sweden, which states that the court can diapprove of names that "for some obvious reason are not suitable as a first name," so they named their little boy Brfxxccxxmnpcccclllmmnprxvclmnckssqlbb11116 (Pronounced "albin"). They were fined 5,000 kronor (about $680 at the time).

The parents claimed that the 43-character name as "a pregnant, expressionistic development that we see as an artistic creation." The court didn't buy it and upheld the fine. Then the parents tried to resubmit the name as "A" (yes, one letter - also pronounced "albin"). The court didn't buy that either, saying that one letter names are prohibited.

The baby finally went with "Albin Hallin" though in his passport his name was given as "Icke namngivet gossebarn" meaning "unnamed little boy."

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Anyway, back to Harper Seven Beckham.

Apparently Seven's name has very little to do with David Beckham's old jersey number – although he does admit it did play a small part. Seven has been a particularly lucky number for the football star.

He told AP that “the other reason was because it symbolises spiritual perfection , Seven Wonders of the World, seven colours of the rainbow.” He also revealed that Harper came about because Victoria is a fan of Harper Lee, who wrote her favourite book “To Kill A Mockingbird.”