Hain said her instant icebreaker — a result of her parents’ interest in 16th century poetry and insistence on giving her a traditional German double first name — has affected her personality and helped shape her identity.

“You kind of have to be more outgoing,” she said. “You can’t be shy.”

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet

The Bible, the family tree, the garden or the produce aisle of the grocery store. When it comes to names, inspiration can be found anywhere.

The business of baby names has brewed into a multimillion dollar industry. Controversy about unique names and their social implications has been a common debate.

When Xochitl Reyes’ mom was an MSU freshman studying anthropology, she became fascinated by Aztec culture.

She stumbled upon her name, which means “goddess of flowers,” in a book. She thought it was a positive representation of their Mexican culture.

Reyes, a hospitality business senior, said her name has helped her stand out, but she’s keeping its professional implications in mind while applying for jobs.

“If someone who didn’t know me looked at my résumé, they might think I’m foreign and be on edge to hire me,” said Reyes, who was born and raised in Haslett. “I had an adviser tell me to put the pronunciation, where I grew up and that I can speak English so they don’t make assumptions.”

The Name Game

In 2007, a New Zealand couple was barred from naming a newborn son “4Real” by the country’s government, which said numerals were not acceptable in names. It said the rule was designed to prevent monikers that are “likely to cause offense to a reasonable person.”

Such a policy doesn’t exist in the United States judiciary, but parents looking to give their children unique names often face harsher judgment in the court of public opinion.

Mike Campbell, webmaster of the Canadian-based site www.behindthename.com, said one of the Web site’s most popular features is a message board for people seeking opinions of prospective baby names.

“There does seem to be a lot of concern about teasing and whether (the name) sounds aesthetically pleasing or whether it flows with their surname,” Campbell said. “How their child will be treated is on people’s minds.”

Hain said she’s only experienced mild judgment about her German name when she was younger, when a school mate suggested she was a Nazi.

“It was more of a childish thing,” she said.

Although her name is quite common in her native country of Bahrain, Marwa Aleskafi said she’s intrigued by how Americans interpret and pronounce it.

“I get Marla and Marna a lot,” the human resource management sophomore said.

“People have a problem with the ‘w.’ I’ve always wondered how it sounds to Americans, but a lot of American names don’t have direct meanings either.”

Aleskafi, whose first name means “pure white stone” in Arabic, said other than simple slips, having a unique name in a new country hasn’t been a problem.

“People are pretty nice about it,” she said. “I love my name. To me, it sounds pretty normal.”

Career geared

Campbell, who has run the name Web site for 11 years, said he always was interested in etymology (the history of words) and the history of first names.

He said the name selection process is more anchored in trends and tradition now that the pool of possible names has grown so dramatically.

Campbell said focusing on current trends or assigning unique names to children always will be popular, but he doubts it will negatively affect people when they reach the professional world.

“A lot of people might have said in the 1980s that names like Jennifer would sound childish and wouldn’t fit into the business world, but as the Jennifers grow up, obviously their peers will be growing up too and it will sound like an adult name,” he said.

“These things go in stages. Parents know what they’re doing.”