For several months you've been calling the little creature growing inside of you Petunia, then the big day comes, baby pops out, and she looks decidedly like a Jill. But, you've had your heart set on Petunia, and Petunia she shall be. But it never feels right, and you start to wonder: Is it OK to change your baby's name?It happened to mom Lena Corner, who changed her son's name from Ralph to Huxley at the age of six months. (Although we aren't sure the new name will help her with her concern that his name sounded too "hoity-toity.")
It's called baby-name remorse, and 10 percent of women who participated in a survey by babycenter.com admitted to pangs of regret about their child's name. Pangs big enough to make them consider changing it. (Meg Ryan did it, telling Oprah that her adopted daughter Charlotte was more of a Daisy.)
Look, changing your infant's name to get better Google results or save her from being "Ashley Number 4" throughout all of grade school doesn't seem like that big a deal. After all, she's too young to remember. But how old does a child have to be before the name-switch gets ridiculous?
Comments:
Add a comment
Wednesday 16 September
By Kat
Mostly this comes from the government requiring parents to name their kids before they take them home from the hospital. If parents were allowed to mull over the choice more carefully, then there would be less 'buyers' remorse'. I worked in China as a kindergarten teacher and several of my students didn't have a name by age 4. In China, some parents (not all by any means) simply call their kids "baby" until their personalities develop.
So basically, I think the issue at hand in this article is merely a cultural one. Changing your child's name when s/he is an infant won't fundamentally harm their sense of identity.
Reply
Thursday 24 September
By Holly
Wow, Kat. Interesting perspective.
My mom was trying to leave the hospital with me when the nurses informed her that she had to give me a name before she could leave.
All she could see was "Heather" when she looked at me, which is my sister's name. She said I didn't look like my sister, I just looked like a Heather.
So, she sat in the hospital hallway with a book they offered flipping through the pages until she found Holly. Both H names, and apparently Holly is a tree, Heather is a bush. Had my mother been given more time to debate my name, I might not accuse my parents of being potheads for naming their children after shrubary...
I can understand the legal need for names, but name changes should be legally easier within the first, say, full year.
Reply