THERE are plenty of big decisions we all have to make in life, but one of the trickiest is deciding what you’re going to call your baby.
Will crafty kids abbreviate the name you love to make it rude when they get to school? Do the initials spell something offensive – the list goes on…
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Earlier this month, it was revealed Lisa Tarr, 27, from High Wycombe had named her twin boys Ronnie and Reggie just like the notorious gangster Kray brothers.
The mum-of-five says she’d never heard of the infamous criminals but that didn’t stop people trolling her.
We spoke to four other mums who all have big regrets about their baby names.
I named my son Archie but Harry and Meghan ruined it!
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Nursery nurse Cassie Legge, 22, lives with her partner in Derby with their nine-month-old son Archie.
She says:
Everyone asks if we named our Archie after Meghan and Harry’s son and we didn’t. Our Archie arrived a couple of weeks before theirs did.
We named him Archie because my partner had a cat back home with his parents. He’s had him for over ten years, since he was 11, and treats him like his son!
Before we got a place together he’d go home for Christmas. He’d carry him like a baby and sneak him titbits of turkey too. So when we found out we were having a boy my partner’s parents joked why don’t you call him Archie. We went with it!
Meghan and Harry copied us not the other way around!
Cassie
We didn’t call him Archie until he arrived, it didn’t feel right while I was still pregnant but he was registered quickly after being born and I didn’t really stop to really think his name through.
Then Archie Sussex was born!
When the Royal baby’s name was announced I was feeding Archie, mum shouted up the stairs, “You’ll never guess what they’ve called their baby!”
My partner’s mum texted me and my partner called me from work with the news.
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I now spend my time correcting people who assume we named him after their Archie when we named him after my other half’s cat!
They copied us not the other way around!
It was only when I went into work with Archie to show him off to everyone that I blurted out I regret calling him Archie.
I wanted a name that was bit different.
I’d far rather people reply, “Oh that’s an unusual name!” rather than, “Oh, you’re such a royalist!”.
Our best friend stole our baby name for his dog!
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Sign language interpreter Laura Smith, 27 is married and lives in Chelmsford with her son Rupert, one.
She says:
We found out we were expecting a boy at my 20-week scan and we’d been told that calling our baby by the name we’d chosen was a good way to bond.
So we chose the name Rupert for him and referred to him as that all the time. It’s a lovely unusual name and it did help me feel closer to him.
We were so excited we told everyone what our baby’s name was going to be. We even got towels with R’s on them too.
My husband has fallen out with our friend over it. They are no longer on speaking terms.
Laura
Two weeks before Rupert’s due date, my husband’s best friend announced they’d named their dog Rupert as they thought it would be funny.
I was very emotional and full of hormones at this stage of the pregnancy.
I couldn’t believe they’d done it and didn’t take it well. I was in absolute bits and it was the last thing I needed.
I imagined all the jokes Rupert would have to put up throughout his childhood living in the shadow of a friend’s dog with the same name as him.
My husband asked him to change the dog’s name and we were told to just get over it. We got told we were really boring and should have seen it as something fun instead.
Apparently someone else had done it to them – they’d had a dog named after their child and they were keeping up the tradition.
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Even though they were lifelong friends my husband has fallen out with him over it. They are no longer on speaking terms – it’s such an insensitive thing to do.
That’s why there were moments I regretted the name Rupert.
When Rupert arrived sure enough he looked like a Rupert. I’d bonded with my Rupert, if we changed it would have been to something boring like David and that’s not him!
I couldn’t have changed his name. That’s why I regret telling anyone.
It won’t happen again when we try for another one his or her name will be a secret. I’ve learnt my lesson.
I named my daughter after my mother-in-law but it never felt right
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Blogger Biba Tanya, 38, is married with three kids and lives in Clitheroe.
She says:
I changed my daughter’s name before she was a year old, she was called Hannah for the first 10 months of her life, we even held a naming ceremony to officially call her Hannah.
Then, three weeks later, I legally changed it to Lola but it took some explaining as I’d originally named her after my mother-in-law!
People will probably think I’m crazy and I should have done it before her naming ceremony but Hannah just didn’t suit her.
I love musicals and Copacabana was one of the first I ever saw. I just kept hearing the line “Her name was Lola, She was a showgirl…”. I took it as a sign.
Biba
That’s why my hubby and me even went to the registry office to change it to Lola Hannah.
I love musicals and Copacabana was one of the first I ever saw. I just kept hearing the line “Her name was Lola, She was a showgirl…” going round and round in my head. I took it as a sign.
I had a rough ride throughout my pregnancy – I was hospitalised and put on IV fluids at 18 weeks.
While in hospital I told my husband that we should name our baby girl, Hannah after his mum. She’s one of the kindest, gentlest, most caring souls I’ve ever met.
So the bump became Hannah for the remainder of the pregnancy. Every time I threw up, I’d say, “It’s Hannah making me sick!”
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Hannah’s birth was at home in a birthing pool. She was my third baby and while her arrival was perfect life afterwards wasn’t as she couldn’t breastfeed properly.
We had her tongue tie snipped twice, once at five weeks and at 16 weeks but she screamed round the clock and couldn’t seem to make her happy.
I have battled depression in the past but postnatal depression is something else.
It took me months to even realise that I was gripped by PND.
I eventually turned a corner and that’s when we decided that a name change could symbolise that.
I needed a fresh start with the baby who I had hated carrying and who I’d struggled with mothering – that’s when Lola was born.
I can honestly say that I am the luckiest mummy in the world to have Lola – and not Hannah – as my baby girl.
I let my mum name my baby and have regretted it for life
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Care assistant Hayley Garbutt, 52, is married and has three children. She lives in North Yorks.
She says:
I had Zola in 1986 when I was just 18.
As I was young, I lived with my mum while I was pregnant and she had a lot of input throughout the pregnancy.
I was told I’d conceived on Christmas Day and so before the birth I had chosen the name Holly.
The labour was difficult and after I’d given birth I was exhausted – I’d had lots of stitches and said to the midwife let my mum hold her first.
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A nurse came along with the tags and asked what her name was.
That’s when I got (I realise now) the shock of my life because mum announced my little girl’s name was going to be “Zola, Zona, Zena, Zoë, Zandra Zinczenko” I was dumbfounded. What child in a Yorkshire village is called all those names?
It was a right saga every time we went to get a passport, driving license or other documentation.
Hayley
But straight away mum starting calling her Zola.
I assumed I’d be able to change it before we registered her birth as I still wanted to call my little girl Holly but mum wasn’t having any of it.
Mum kept telling me it was a film star’s name and Zola would be destined for big things.
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At school I was so embarrassed for her. Everyone kept asking if it was true her full first name was Zola Zona Zena Zoë Zandra.
It was a right saga every time we went to get a passport, driving license or other documentation.
Even today while my daughter likes her name, she can’t stand all of the other names. She did change her last name from Zinczenko to Garbutt so it was the same as her dads.
I couldn’t believe it only cost £6.50. If I’d have known I could have done that I would have changed it all years ago. I’d have saved her from a lifetime of embarrassment.
I blame it on my nutty mum for being a typical interfering grandmother.
For more parenting news, check out this cringe-worthy family who’ve sent naff cards for SEVENTEEN YEARS.
Also read about the dad who has the fright of his life when his wife washes a T-shirt with his baby’s face on it.
And finally, see how Kate Middleton and Prince William’s Christmas cards have changed over the years.
