Business shuns bid to name kiddie after company

'Microsoft' is such a nice name for a boy

A US couple who tried to find a corporate sponsor for their baby son have failed to find a bidder.

Jason Black and Frances Schroeder used ebay and Yahoo! to auction the naming rights to their third child.

They were holding out for at least $500,000 so they could name their little kiddie Cisco, Microsoft, Intel, or whatever.

But time ran out. Under New York State law, yesterday's deadline to put a first name on the boy's birth certificate came and went without a big-bucks offer.

So instead, his parents thoughtfully called him Zane.

So is this end of such madcap actions by parents who should know better?

Apparently not. According to a survey by americanbaby.com, half of all parents said they'd consider letting their kids be named after corporates in exchange for mega bucks.

Asked whether they'd be happy to name their baby 'Kraft', 'Coke' or something similar in exchange for $500,000, one in five of the 600 respondents said they would, and one in three said they'd consider it.

It's not clear if they'd be quite so keen if Rentokil or Dyno-Rod stumped up the cash, but there you go.

Said Dottie Enrico of americanbaby.com: "Considering the concerns many parents express about kids and their exposure to commercials, we were shocked by the results of this poll."

Yeah, but while parents are keen, it would also mean that some business giant would have to cough up the cash. And surely no decent, law-abiding business would do such a thing? Surely? ®