Parents unsure what to name their soon-to-be-born baby can now spare themselves the hand-wringing, and let the fetus decide itself. Developer Nathan Parks has created a 99-cent iPhone app called "Kick to Pick" that allows an expectant mom to place her iPhone (or iPod Touch or iPad) on her belly, and scroll through a list of possible names until the baby "picks" one by kicking. Although the app generates a random list of names, the parent can limit the options or customize the list. Is this a genius idea, or a cringeworthy cop-out?
No question — this is pathetic: Forgive me if I roll my eyes again and again, says Adrienne Crezo at Neatorama. Naming a baby is not exactly "grunt work," and it's certainly not "the worst thing about being a future parent." But by all means, throw your 99 cents "down the proverbial drain." Maybe then this app will get marketed to celebrities, and there will be fewer kids "named Pilot Inspektor and Petal Blossom Rainbow."
"App lets your baby choose its own name"
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Expectant moms deserve the help: "When I was pregnant, one of my biggest fears was that I'd choose a name for my child she or he would grow up to hate," says Jacqueline Burt at The Stir. This app relieves the pressure. And if junior comes home from school declaring that he hates his name, "you can answer in all honesty, 'You picked your name, sweetheart. Now run along and do your homework, Moroccan Scott.'"
"Need a new baby name? There's an app for that"
The app won't do babies any good: This might be welcomed by cowardly parents, says Margaret Hartmann at Jezebel, but their kids are no better off than before. "Now instead of being saddled with a name their parents spent months mulling over," they'll just be stuck with a handle "selected via a random kick in utero — or particularly rough bout of mom's indigestion."
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