REALITY TV star Kim Kardashian and her rapper boyfriend Kanye West are reported to have named their first child Kaidence.
Website Media Takeout claimed that the proud parents had settled on the name Kaidence Donda West, which kills several birds with one stone. Kaidence keeps alive the Kardashian tradition of giving children a name beginning with K, while Donda is a tribute to West's mother, who had the same name and died in 2007.
Media Takeout describes it as a "beautiful name", and it seems a better choice than the bookies' favourite, North, or even Knorth.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
However, it has still attracted a fair degree of criticism. According to the Daily Mirror, the name "is something we can imagine Tulisa would call a pet poodle". The paper reports that the child's moniker only emerged when a nurse let the cat out of the bag.
Fox News ranked Kaidence alongside other strange celebrity baby names, such as Bear Blu, the son of Alicia Silverstone. "You knew it was going to start with a 'K'," says Fox. "But Kaidence? Donda is Kanye's late mom's name, so that's cool. But Kaidence?"
By picking the name the couple were "eschewing the conventional spelling of Cadence, which is also a musical term for a sequence of notes indicating the end of a phrase," explains The Independent.
Salon picks up that theme, noting that cadence is "exactly the sort of thing that some critics argue is missing from West's punishing and atonal new album, Yeezus".
It adds that the name Cadence became popular after the 2003 film American Wedding. "The nation that made Kayden, Jayden and Brayden popular names took it from there," it explains.
However, the West-Kardashian spelling of the name does not appear to be unique. The celebrity couple may be interested to discover that their baby's name is shared by more than 200 characters in fantasy computer game World of Warcraft. One of the Kaidences to be found there is a warrior blood elf, a member of the Legends of Azeroth guild in the realm of Nordrassil.
-
August 9 editorial cartoonsCartoons Saturday's political cartoons include snake oil salesmen, Ghislaine Maxwell's new residence, and more
-
5 hastily redrawn cartoons about redistrictingCartoons Artists take on Donald Trump's draughtsmanship, the White House ballroom, and more
-
Bonnie Blue: taking clickbait to extremesTalking Point Channel 4 claims documentary on the adult performer's attention-grabbing sex stunts is opening up a debate
-
Zoos offer cockroach naming and hippo poo candlesTall Tales And other stories from the stranger side of life
-
Tirzepatide and the other ‘breakthrough’ obesity drugsfeature Huge demand for weight-loss medication means prices have soared
-
California attempting to collect $600,000 in unpaid taxes from Ye's apparel brand, report saysSpeed Read
-
California officials denounce 'vile' antisemitic banners over L.A. freewaySpeed Read
-
‘Amid a global pandemic, the Met Gala seemed more irrelevant than ever’Instant Opinion Your digest of analysis from the British and international press
-
Kanye West wants marijuana to be free, and everyone who has a baby to get 'a million dollars'Speed Read
-
52 ideas that changed the world: 29. Reality TVIn Depth From British bricklayers to the US president and the Kardashians, ‘real-life’ shows have created a new type of celebrity
-
Why Kanye West is changing his nameSpeed Read Rapper cites biblical significance in decision to be known as Ye
