North Carolina Couple Welcomes Atrium Health’s ‘Baby New Year’
For some strange reason, the ‘First Baby of the New Year’ has always been a fascination for me. I have NO IDEA why, but I’d be lying if I said this hasn’t INCREASED in recent times. You see one of my best friends came out with a stunning revelation a couple of years ago. In casual conversation it came out that my parents’ anniversary is New Year’s Eve. My friend responded with the tidbit that her birthday is New Year’s Day. Wait, it gets better. Yup, when she was born, she WAS ‘The First Baby of the New Year.” Hence, her nickname, “Baby New Year,” was born (in fact, she’s thrown off if I ever call her ‘Melanie’-her given name).
Anyway, I’m always intrigued to find out about these children who will be the answer to a great trivia question for life. Meet the Cannon family of Concord. Jonathan and Rachel were not expecting their bundle of joy to arrive until January 8th. Hope they got the nursery finished early. On January 1st at 12:06 am, they welcomed a new son into the world and their family at Atrium Health Cabarrus. Baby boy Cannon weighed 7 pounds, 3 ounces, and was 19.76 inches long.
Keeping with the move started with their first child (also a son), the Cannons chose not to find out the baby’s gender in advance. So, no name was at the ready. Daddy Jonathan tells WCNC, “I guess it’s our tradition. We did the same thing with our first son. We didn’t pick a name till he was like two days old. And they were like, you have to pick a name before you leave the hospital.”
One last interesting fact, holiday birthdays are becoming a thing with the Cannon family. Rachel’s birthday is Valentine’s Day and their eldest son was born in late November, so his birthday can fall on Thanksgiving on occasion.
And now, they have the first baby of the new year 2024 at Atrium Health Cabarrus.
6 Baby Names You Probably Should Avoid
Messiah
In 2013, a child support magistrate in East Tennessee ruled that a 7-month-old boy named Messiah must have his name changed to Martin. “The word ‘Messiah’ is a title, and it’s a title that has only been earned by one person, and that one person is Jesus Christ,” said Magistrate Lu Ann Ballew.
Adolf Hitler
In 2009, New Jersey parents Heath and Deborah Campbell were taken into state custody after authorities got involved in a cake incident. A bakery refused to decorate a cake with the words “Happy Birthday Adolf Hitler.” The Campbell’s gave their three children Nazi-inspired names including Adolf Hitler . Though the state said that their names were not the reason, it’s been reported that the parents didn’t believe them.
Allah
In 2018, Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk of Georgia sued their home state after officials refused to let them name their daughter ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah. The issue was Allah, the two-year-old girl’s last name. Georgia law requires that children bear the last name of at least one of their parents. The parents won the case, with the help of lawyers from the ACLU.
1069
In 1976, the North Dakota Supreme Court ruled that short-order cook and high school teacher Michael Herbert Dengler could not change his name to “1069.”
Santa Claus
In December 1999, Robert William Handley of Ohio filed a petition to change his name to Santa Robert Claus. Judge Lawrence Belskis denied his petition saying that “the public has a proprietary interest, a proprietary right in the identity of Santa Claus, both in the name and the persona.”
III
A 1984 ruling from the California Courts of Appeal denied a request from Thomas Boyd Ritchie III to change his name to the Roman numeral “III,” pronounced “Three.” The court said that, “a change to a roman numeral did not constitute a name change within the meaning of the law and that the new ‘name’ used by appellant was inherently confusing.”
