Parents don't always think through the names they give their children, sentencing them to years of schoolyard taunts or scatalogical rhymes. A name is a powerful thing that can shape how a child is perceived, and even what path he might take -- in other words, his destiny.

So it's perhaps understandable if we're a little alarmed that the Star Wars-inspired "Anakin" was the 957th most popular name among boys last year in the United States, according to the Social Security Administration. You know, the horribly annoying kid from The Phantom Menace who grew up to be the horribly annoying man in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith, who became Darth Vader, one of the greatest villains of all time?

Anakin edged out such non-sinister boys' names as Emmet, Truman, Dario and Kale. No, wait, Kale is pretty sinister. Not Palpatine-sinister, mind you, but still ... it's a leafy vegetable.

Maybe by the time these young Anakins start school, the name will have lost its malevolent Jedi- (and youngling-) killing air, replaced by the likes of Kylo Ren and Phasma. Now that I think of it, those do have a nice ring to them.

(via Entertainment Weekly)