PARENTING : What’s in a Name? : Plenty, when it comes to choosing what to call your child. It’s a decision that could last a lifetime.

Expecting a baby and agonizing about what to call the new arrival? Spend some time at the park or meander through a supermarket and eavesdrop as parents yell at their offspring.

“I’m not buying that again, Harrison!” “You’ll never eat it, Isabella!”

They may be naming boys “Robert Jr.” or “John III” in Savannah and Pittsburgh, but not in the San Fernando Valley in 1995.

Of course, barely two years ago very different names were ringing out locally in the cereal aisle: “Put it back, Zack!” “We don’t eat chocolate things for breakfast, Caitlin!”

Names definitely follow trends, both regionally and in America at large. Here in the Valley, where Hollywood is a reigning influence, we might blame the movies, the soap operas or Danielle Steele for the proliferation of “designer names.” This is what British-born Sherman Oaks resident Vanessa Gold calls the trendy monikers she hears at her daughters’ private school, also in Sherman Oaks. The mother of Emily, 5, and Victoria, 3, she’s expecting her third daughter this summer. Names she and her husband Andrew are anxious to avoid: Chelsea, Haley, Brittany and Brianna.

Around the Valley at the moment, Gold observes, “There are no Annes or Susans, normal sorts of names. These designer names sound so voguish, pretentious, common,” she believes.

Her British background may account for the choice the Golds have made for their baby--Olivia--a name that is catching on in the States, but isn’t quite trendy yet.

Girls’ names have traditionally been much more open to experimentation than boys. Girls have been called after biblical figures (Rachel, Rebecca); virtues (Hope, Chastity); flowers (Iris); jewels (Opal); food (Cooky); places (Savannah); days of the week (Tuesday, Sunday).

The “virtue names” these days--both locally and elsewhere--have been replaced by names that reflect playful sexiness (Jessica, Amanda); refinement (Jacqueline, Katharine); earthiness (Kate, Annie). Girls’ names have even moved into traditional male territory of surnames as first names: Hunter, Taylor. Joanne and Matt Halliday of Santa Clarita went this route when they named their daughter Mackenzie.

Boy’s names, on the other hand, have always been more conservative. The names may change, but the replacements are scarcely more radical. Thomas, James and John have been eclipsed in the last decade by the equally ancient, biblical names of Joshua, Jacob and Luke. In fact, a typical male preschooler’s birthday party sounds like roll call for the Last Supper.

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“Parents (have gotten) more creative with boys’ names in the last two years,” insists Gale Silverton, one of the owners of The Neighborhood School, a preschool in Sherman Oaks. Just as boys and men can wear ponytails without turning heads now, boys will feel more confident sporting less traditional names, she says. She has boys enrolled called Raven, Caelen, Ryun and Connor.

Studio City writer Catherine Johnson and her husband, UCLA professor Ed Berenson, didn’t consider any male “designer names” when they were expecting twin boys. Their biggest challenge was agreeing on two completely classic names. Ed disliked Christopher; Catherine loved its association with A. A. Milne’s eternal child, Christopher Robin. Andrew, Ed’s name of choice, did little for Catherine. But Catherine’s C-section led to her having only one of the twins in her room immediately after their births. This twin, whom she bonded with first, became Christopher Hillis (the family middle name goes back to the Civil War). Ed was the first to spend time with the other twin, whom he called Andrew Seth.

If any trend can be determined in naming, perhaps it is that everyone feels more freedom these days in choosing names or coining new ones. Ethnic and cultural considerations have also come to determine name choices--especially in the Latino or African American communities--and play as much of a role in naming as the more traditional methods of honoring family members and old family names. And names promise to change in popularity as quickly as pop culture itself evolves in America.

There have always been people who follow their own idiosyncratic program with regard to the name game. Jennifer Choy of Pasadena dubbed her son d’Artagnan--after his father, not the fourth musketeer. Leslie Chapman of Studio City considered calling her son Tree. (“I just liked it,” she explains.) Nancy and John Sutton of Sherman Oaks named their daughter Skye, a nickname for the Dutch name, Skylar. John even toyed with “Raine Sky,” a throwback to the names many hippies gave their offspring back in the ‘60s.

But a lot of those names did not age well. River, Sunshine and Peace have been transforming themselves into Robert, Shelley and Patricia. Let us not forget, this is a serious business, naming children, who must carry their titles throughout life.

Or must they? The courts are full of people every day petitioning to change the very name their parents chose with such care.