What parent in their right mind would name their child this?

Do you like your name?

I have a fairly common name. So common in fact that every time “Alex” was called during role call, at least four other kids that would raise their hand. The teacher would get frazzled and we would have to wear name tags for the day.

But it could be worse.  You see, there are some people in the world named Cheese. Yes, “cheese”. As in the dairy product. Weird right?

BabyCenter.com surveyed 500,000 new parents this year, nine of them admitted that they had named their child “Cheese” in 2013. Think about it. That’s a 450 per cent increase over last year. Woah.

There are some slightly less puzzling names on the weirdest baby names of 2013 list: Thunder, Panda and Phone, to name a few. Thankfully, you are more likely to run into a Phone in the U.S than you would in Australia.

Now, I know the arrival of a child can be an emotional and life-changing situation, but is that an excuse to condemn a child, with a moniker that means he or she is more likely to have their head shoved down a toilet?

Or is it just a new trend, perhaps the result of the influence of celebrity parents trying to out do each other? I am looking at you Kim Kardashian and Busy Phillips.

Diversity is great, and I understand why you wouldn’t want your child to be like everyone else. But truth be told, I’d much rather be one of a number of Alex’s, than deal with all the dairy-based insults, that would undoubtedly be thrown my way.

Want to know the most popular baby names in Australia from this year? Take a look at the gallery below:

What is the weirdest baby name you have ever heard?