Would you name your child after a tech brand?

It is a well known and popular fact that people are a product of society. Now people are beginning to name their children after products and who knows where that will end?

A psychology professor by the name of Cleveland Evans who works at Bellevue University in Nebraska analysed the names of four million babies born in the US in 2000 and discovered the trend of parents naming their children after products.

There were several boys names based on cars – including Chevy, Camry and Dodge – while girls names include fashion houses such as Armani and Cartier, as well as Essence, a name Evans believes was inspired by a women's magazine. Seven children were named Courvoisier, after a brand of cognac, which was possibly a contributing factor to the pregnancy?

Of course, these products have been around for a long time and older brands such as Chanel and Tiffany entered the naming lexicon decades ago. So it's only a matter of time before parents begin naming their children after technology brands.

Siemens, Panasonic, Symbian and Pentium are all potential childhood traumas waiting to be unleashed on an unsuspecting generation. Of course, it can get worse – would you name your son Longhorn? And anyone named Intel had better hope the 'Intel Inside' promotion has ended by the time they hit school.

However, there could be some benefits. Memory guru Benjamin Levy has bemoaned the fact that most names are a random jumble of nonsensical syllables, which makes them hard to remember. He teaches how to remember people's names by linking them to an image and claims the pilgrims of America had the right idea in naming people things like Temperance and Chastity. Even Native Americans had a more sensible naming system by choosing a name based on a distinguishing characteristic.

Let's be honest – when you meet one of the Linuxes I am sure are running around, it will be easy to remember their name by simply picturing them as a giant penguin.

James Pearce writes for ZDNet Australia.