Rocker Frank Zappa may not have instigated this cruel trend, but back in 1967 he named his baby Moon Unit, whose brothers and sister are Dweezil and Ahmet Emuukha Rodan, and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.
About the same time, celeb parents Angie and David Bowie landed their son with Zowie, and Gloria Jones and Marc Bolan combined to create Rolan Bolan.
Calico Dashiell was the choice of Alice Cooper.
Later, Paula Yates and Bob Geldof got into the act with Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches Honeyblossom and Little Pixie Frou-Frou.
Then Yates backed up, this time with INXS singer Michael Hutchence, and gave us Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily.
And there are more - Moxie Crimefighter (magician Penn Jillette), Pilot Inspektor (Jason Lee), and Sage Moonblood and Seargeoh (Sylvester Stallone).
Not to be left out, Wacko Jacko provided Prince Michael, Prince Michael II (also known as Blanket) and Paris Michael, while brother Jermaine weighed in with Jermajesty.
Rapper TI's offspring answer to Messiah Ya'Majesty, King, Domani Uriah, and Deyjah Imani.
For the random, try Spec Wildhorse and Hud (John Cougar Mellencamp), Camera (Arthur Ashe and Jeanne Moutoussamy), Free (Barbara Hershey and David Carradine), Denim and Diezel (Toni Braxton), Tu (Rob Morrow) and Seven Sirius (Andre Benjamin and Erykah Badu).
Will Smith has Willow Camille Reign, and rapper Vanilla Ice, Dusti Raine and Keelee Breeze.
Nicole Richie and Joel Madden chirped up with Sparrow James Midnight.
So while bizarre monikers are not new, they certainly seem to be increasing.
Gwenyth Paltrow branded her child Apple - after her favourite fruit, or maybe her computer, we're not quite sure.
Nicole Kidman and husband Keith Urban chose not to forget their favourite day of the week by dubbing their bub Sunday Rose.
Good enough to eat, Australian soap star Ingo Rademacher called his son Peanut Kai; US actress Shannyn Sossamon brushes up with Audio Science; Jordan dotes on Princess Tiaamii, and footballer Frank Lampard goes starry-eyed over Luna Coco Patricia.
The Spice Girls still appear to be singing off the same songsheet with Bluebell Madonna (Geri Halliwell), Phoenix Chi (Mel B), and Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz (Posh and hubby Dave).
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver is the latest to choose from the name and shame menu - after already lining up his older three children for the emotional blender of school yard taunts.
His three girls, Poppy Honey, Daisy Boo and Petal Blossom, are now joined by little brother Buddy Bear.
But this disturbing trend is not exclusive to the celebrity status; a Chinese couple battled and lost the fight with government officials to call their baby boy "@", and a geek in the United States (where else) landed his second-born with the name Version 2.0.
Perhaps it is time the world took notice of Germany's rules governing the naming of children.
"Parents have to choose from a list of court-approved names ..." writes Englishman Roger Darlington on his fascinating website on the worldwide use of personal names.
"The names Hitler and Stalin are banned, for instance."
By German law, a child's name has to meet two conditions: It must reflect the sex of the child, and it must not endanger the "wellbeing of the child".
In 2002, a Turkish couple living in Germany were denied permission to name their child Osama bin Laden, though, in 2006, Berlin authorities allowed an Islamic couple to name their child Jihad.
However, when it comes to dubious children's names, New Zealand is right at the top of this particular heap.
Who can forget the day poor little Talula Does the Hula From Hawaii understandably took her parents to court in an effort to get her name changed? The girl had been so embarrassed she had never even told her closest friends her real name and asked they called her simply "K".
A fed-up Judge Rob Murfitt made the 9-year-old a ward of the State so her name could be changed.
"The court is profoundly concerned about the very poor judgement which this child's parents have shown in choosing this name," he wrote in his ruling.
He also revealed some names registration officials in New Zealand had blocked, including Stallion, Yeah Detroit, Fish and Chips, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucky and Sex Fruit.
However, somewhere in New Zealand is a child called Number 16 Bus Shelter, and another called Midnight Chardonnay; plus twins called Benson and Hedges.
"Tragically," in Judge Murfitt's opinion, there is also a Violence.
According to Internal Affairs, under New Zealand law, the Register-general of Births Deaths and Marriages cannot record a name that is "undesirable in the public interest".
That means a name or combination of names:
• Should not cause offence to a reasonable person.
• Should not be unreasonably long (fewer than 100 characters including spaces).
• Should not, without adequate justification, be, include or resemble an official title or rank.
• Should not contain punctuation marks, brackets or numbers.
For these reasons, parents in New Zealand who attempted to lumber their children with the names Satan, 4Real, Princess, King and Major were not successful.
But let's finish with some good news - the majority of parents in New Zealand are not trying to name and shame their children.
In 2009, the 10 most popular boys' names were Jack (345), Oliver (342), James (337), Joshua (327), William (326), Samuel (313), Liam (312), Benjamin (285), Daniel (265) and Thomas (254).
Rounding out the top 10 for girls were Sophie (386), Ruby (305), Olivia (304), Isabella (288), Ella (283), Emily (266), Charlotte (257), Lily (236), Emma (235) and Amelia (222).
• Lea Jones is the mother of two children with sensible names, she says.
