“I hate ridiculous names; my weird name has haunted me all my life.”–Peaches Geldof
Peaches Geldof–appropriately clothed for a PG-rated blog.
Peaches Honeyblossom Geldof, (March 13, 1989–) is a British Journalist, model and TV host. She may also be the one and only personage ever honored on these pages who actually claims to dislike her name. As for the excess of protestation alluded to in the title of this post (thanks Will Shakespeare!) we’ll deal with that later in the article.
But first let’s get with the origins of the name and her celebrity. The middle daughter of British punk rocker Bob Geldof and Paula Yates, Peaches is situated between younger sister Pixie Geldof and older sister Fifi Trixbelle Geldof. Let’s also not forget her younger half-sister, Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof. It seems that her parents just couldn’t bring themselves to name their girls Mary or Sarah or Jennifer. Pixie…Fifi…Peaches…Tiger Lily…these names sound like a performing troupe of acrobatic Labradoodles. To add to the mix, she married her first husband, songwriter Max Drummey, in one of those quicky Vegas wedding chapels, a union that–surprise, surprise–lasted only eight months.
She began her media career writing articles for teen magazines at the tender of age of 14, later graduating to modeling and TV hosting. Her biggest claim to fame–and subsequently infamy–came early in 2009 when she signed on to be the modeling face of The Ultimo Collection of swimwear and lingerie. It’s basically a British version of Victoria’s Secret. At the time, the head of Ultimo praised her saying, “Peaches was the perfect choice for this campaign. She’s young, edgy with lashings of style.” The key word in that quote being “was,” as the gig did not last long. The collection launched at Debenham’s Department store in London in May of 2009. But in March of 2010, after nude photos of Geldof appeared on the internet, along with allegations of a night of crazed orgies and drug consumption, she was unceremoniously dumped by Ultimo. It seems it would have been the perfect timing to quit her last name, and just go with Peaches Honeyblossom to launch a career in adult entertainment. But that did not happen.
So let’s get back to the protestations regarding her given name. There are two things that strike her disapprobation as insincere. The first is the simple tendency of high profile celebrities to change their names to whatever seems more marketable or acceptable. Think of Norma Jean Mortenson (Marilyn Monroe) or Alan Konisgburg (Woody Allen). Maybe she was afraid of the “artist formerly known as” syndrome, but one suspects she’s not quite famous enough to suffer that sort of lazy journalism disrespect. No, you’d have to think that keeping her father’s surname, at least, was the best marketing move for her career.
This brings us to the real killer: reason number two. She named her two sons (from her second marriage to Thomas Cohen) Astala Dylan Willow and Phaedra Bloom Forever! These names even turned out to be too over the top for the father who gave her the name Peaches Honeyblossom. Bob Geldof actually objected to the names given to his two grandsons, though it should be noted that his objections to the names had nothing to do with them being weird. He objected to Astala and Phaedra because he thought they sounded like girls names.
With that, we bid farewell to the oddly-named and spawned Geldofs, feeling sure there are no more weird skeletons in their closet.
Oh. Wait. Peaches is a practicing Scientologist.
Until next time folks–and don’t name your kids after the ingredients in a vegan smoothie.
Visit the insanity of my own blog at The Millennium Conjectures. @MarkSackler
The Blog of Funny Names 
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wait a minute! what is odd about this name, i ask?) peaches has been my nickname since i was a very young child and i have reclaimed it as my grandmother name. all of the babies, as soon as they can talk, call me peaches. peaches unite!! )
Is your middle name Honeyblossom? Are you a member of a troop of acrobatic labradoodles?
Hehehe. Acrobatic labradoodles. Cracks me up every time.
i could possibly be, but i will never tell.
LOL
Really? You should rethink that. A troop of TALKING acrobatic labradoodles would make a fourtune!
you raise an excellent point
Yeah, a nickname that is not on your birth certificate. I also know a woman nicknamed “Peach” or “Peachy” (I only know of one person who called her “Peaches”) but the name on her driver’s license is Sharon. I hope Ms. Peaches Honeyblossom is creative because if she had to find a job like average named Jane Q. Public does, her resume would be in the circular file every time.
The acrobatic labradoodles crack is priceless.
i agree )
So true!
Reblogged this on The Millennium Conjectures™ and commented:
My monthly contribution to The Blog of Funny Names!
Although I love this, the future post I was going to do someday on Frank Zappa’s children is already starting to look pretty darn tepid by comparison, and it hasn’t even been written yet.
I know. Mark took a name I’ve been wanting to write about for a while and knocked it out of the park!
Ah Peaches and the Geldofs. What a wonderful (and wonderfully named) family.
And you know, those names she gave her kids do sound girly. Points for originality though.
Gotta respect Bob Geldof! That guy knows what his priorities are.
Love the labradoodles. And not one baseball reference. Am I missing something?
I didn’t even notice that, but you’re right! Not a single baseball reference! I wonder if there’s something in the Connecticut water right now that has changed Mark’s personality 🙂 If Rob comes back with a non-baseball post tomorrow, then there’s something seriously weird going on!
If that happens, I’m going to check to see if Mars is in retrograde. 😉
Mercury IS in retrograde (I had a discussion with an astrologer friend of mine recently and know that to be true), so that at least explains something!
It’s not the water. It’s the evil Red Sox in the World Series and my football Giants 1-6. That’s the real reason I have become a boxing fan. 😉
LOL! I’m sorry to hear about your recent struggles 😦
I have to change it up once in awhile, Fannie. And I’m thinking that, with those names, Peaches sons won’t make it past T-ball.
Phew, “change up”, you had me worried.
I agree, though, they won’t make it passed t-ball.
P.S. I liked reading “Will Shakespeare”. I’ll never forget the time, maybe a decade ago, when Rob got this old baseball trivia card game and they called a lot of the Latino players by Americanized nicknames, like Bob Clemente. It was a weird experience seeing all of those.
That jacked-up name drove her to Scientology. Having a crazy name can induce odd behavior.
Either that or she had drinks with Tom Cruise.
well-played, mark. well-played.
🙂
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