CELEBRITY BABY NAME CRITIQUE
By Nancy Callahan

*Zahra Savanna* and *Lola Simone*

Chris Rock, recent Academy Awards host and one of the most infamous comedians in the business, has again shocked the world. Was it a vicious, hilarious diatribe? Some sick, twisted joke? Nope... believe it or not, it was Rock's surprisingly adept baby-naming abilities.

In 2002, he named his first daughter Lola Simone -- a simple, sweet name with a pleasing Gallic flavor. In 2004, he named second daughter Zahra Savannah -- a similarly elegant moniker with a tinge of exoticism and zest.

Each name is well-balanced and has a catchy echoing assonance. 'Simone' and 'Savannah' are breaths of fresh air in a world full of drab, monosyllabic middles like Anne and Lee. And, perhaps most notably, the names neither contain nor allude to any sort of swear word (nice job, Chris!).

Despite these good points, the names do carry slightly slutty overtones. I wouldn't be surprised if someone named Zahra Savannah were the star of the latest Vivid Girl video, or if Lola Simone were the most popular pole-dancer at the local strip club. (In fact, Rock himself conceded that Lola Simone sounded pole-dancer-esque on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart not long ago.)

But, overtones aside, these are still solid -- even luxurious -- names. This is a fairly amazing thing, in light of the extreme cutesiness (Coco, Lily, Milo...), trendiness (Ava, Finley, Olivia...) and outlandishness (Phinneaus, Whizdom, Audio Science...) one observes among the names of celebrity spawn.

The verdict? Rock did his daughters good.

Rating for Zahra: 5 stars
Rating for Lola: 4 stars
Rating overall: 4.5 stars