What Tiger Woods Can Teach Us About Baby Names

Less than a month ago, Tiger Woods had a squeaky-clean image. Then he had that curious car accident and things began to fall apart. Close to a dozen women have since come forward and claimed to be Tiger’s mistresses. I don’t know if any of the claims are true, but I do know that they’ve tarnished Tiger’s reputation. Perhaps irreparably so.

This situation reminds us that any public figure–even one as seemingly irreproachable as Tiger Woods–can get caught up in scandal.

That’s the dangerous thing about naming a baby after a living public figure (especially one with a distinctive handle). You may greatly admire a particular entertainer, or athlete, or politician, but that person is still human. He or she will occasionally make mistakes. One of those mistakes may end up being a big mistake. What if the public figure goes from being loved to hated, virtually overnight? What will happen to that person’s image (and name)?