
Sarah Palin may not be running America, but she still controls the baby names in her family.
Who can doubt granny Sarah is the mastermind behind Tripp Easton Mitchell, the name of Bristol Palin and Levi Johnstonâs newborn child?
He may as well be Sarah and Toddâs own third son? (Geddit? Third? Tripp?)
Trippâs name follows the tradition the Palins started when they named their first son Track. Now a 19-year-old soldier, Track was named for, well, that circular pathway people run around. Itâs a word name, itâs a place name, it begins with T just like Toddâs. And itâs a truly original name with genuine personal meaning.
The Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator spits out choices like Wrench, Camp, and Trout.
Those are qualities a lot of modern parents say theyâre going for in a baby name but rarely achieve, mostly because people want other people not only to like, but admire, the name they choose. Sarah Palin doesnât have that problem. Say what you will about the nationâs first GILF, but as a baby namer sheâs a real maverick.
Younger son Trig Paxson Vanâs name follows the pattern set with Track: Trig is Norse for âtrueâ and Paxson is a snowmobiling area in Alaska.
And now grandbaby Tripp Easton Mitchellâs name fits the same mold, with Tripp a one-syllable, itâs-not-really-a-name name starting with T, presumably as a tribute to Todd. The infant even has Toddâs middle name, Mitchell, as one of his middle names; out-of-the-box middle naming is another Palin baby name trademark. And Easton references a place like so many of the other Palin names.
Baby-mama Bristolâs own name, along with her sister Willowâs, is a place name. Daughter Piperâs name was chosen partly because of the airplane and partly because, as Todd has said, âitâs cool.â Piperâs middle name is Indy, as in Jones, 500, and movie.
Much fun has been made of the Palin baby names: The Sarah Palin Baby Name Generator spits out choices like Wrench, Camp, and Trout. But though the world isnât likely to rush to name their sons Track or Trig or Tripp, the truth is, the Palins are world-class name deciders on the order of Angelina and Brad, whoâve set similar family traditions with their sonsâ x-ending names and their secret nods to significant people and places.
I was eager to see whether Bristol would follow in her parentsâ creative-naming footsteps or pick the kind of mass-marketed name favored by other teenage moms: Kayden, say, or Ashton. Tripp is, well, kind of trippy, and certainly unfortunate in view of his paternal grandmaâs recent drug arrest. But itâs a more creative choice than those made by other famous young moms: Jamie Lynn Spearsâ Maddie Briann, for example, or Charlotte Churchâs Ruby Megan.
Its only real problem may be that it seems less like the independent choice of the babyâs young parents and more like the continuation of an established family dynasty.
Pamela Redmond Satran is the coauthor with Linda Rosenkrantz of nine bestselling baby name guides, including Beyond Jennifer & Jason and Cool Names for Babies, and a developer of the new baby-naming site Nameberry. A former fashion editor for Glamour, she is also a columnist for that magazine, writes for The New York Times, and is the author of five novels. Her children are named Rory, Joe, and Owen.