B-sides: _Beyonce, Jay-Z’s plan to trademark baby’s name seems a business move_

Life is a gift, love, open it up / You’re a child of destiny / You’re the child of my destiny / You’re my child with the child from Destiny’s Child.”

Not many of us are living with the burden of being children of destiny. But Blue Ivy Carter, born last month to parents Beyoncé Knowles and Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is. At least, that’s according to the above lines from “Glory (featuring B.I.C.)” released by Jay-Z soon after the baby girl’s birth.

Well, I can’t speak to whether or not she is a child of destiny, but she’s certainly having a busy month.

The song, which includes recordings of the infant (credited as B.I.C. in the title of the song) crying, made her the youngest person ever to appear on Billboard charts. But that isn’t Blue’s only mention in music news of late.

Last Thursday, Rolling Stone magazine reported a couple things about the musical juggernaut of a family. First, that Beyoncé and Jay-Z applied at the United States Patent and Trademark Office to trademark their daughter’s name. The magazine also reported that Beyoncé and Jay-Z may be planning to use Blue’s name as a brand for a line of baby products ““ carriages and the like.

Now, I can understand Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s desire to trademark their daughter’s name. By doing that, they ensure that opportunistic businessmen and women cannot clap their kid’s name on merchandise.

What I don’t understand is why Jay-Z and Beyoncé are acting as an opportunistic businessman and woman and planning to slap their kid’s name on a line of merchandise. There seems to be no legitimate or well-meaning reason for it. For one thing, I dare say the couple is doing just fine financially. Beyoncé alone, in addition to having an exorbitantly successful music career, has also appeared in a few movies and commercials. She even has her own line of perfume.

Jay-Z is also doing quite well for himself, with his own multi-pronged musical career (his solo work and his collaboration with Kanye West, his co-founding of Roc-A-Fella Records and more), as well as appearing in a couple commercials.

So what’s the point? I don’t have an answer, but I hope that, for Blue’s sake, Beyoncé and Jay-Z elect to use their protection of her name to keep it as just that ““ a name.

And in addition to the financial side of the situation, Blue is already going to have enough attention.

Her unconventional name aside (at least she’s not named after a piece of fruit), she happens to have a couple of obscenely famous parents. She will always be known as “Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s daughter.” The last thing she needs is her name plastered across a pile of diaper packaging.

I can’t help but feel like there’s an element of greed taking root here. I wish it weren’t, but I don’t see how else this business move will appear to the public, were it to actually happen.

Beyoncé and Jay-Z are extremely lucky to have had a baby girl to raise and cherish. The experience of raising Blue will be infinitely richer if it is an experience shared only by them and their very own child of destiny.

Are you the namesake of a brand of baby products? If so, email Bain at [email protected]. “B-sides” runs every Monday.