This is a new one.
Picking your baby’s name is one of the biggest choices you’ll ever have to make, it’s the one thing they’ll carry with them for the rest of their lives.
A lot of thought goes into this, so it’s surprising to hear of one mum who decided to change her child’s name after she realised what she had originally chosen wasn’t quite it.
Posting to Mumsnet, the woman revealed that she made a drastic change to her son’s name when he was six months old, changing his name from Ralph to Huxley.
Saying she was surprised by her family’s reaction, she asked other members of the online community for their thoughts on her big move.
She wrote: “I changed my baby’s name from Ralph to Huxley when he was six months old. I just felt his name didn’t fit.
“I was quite surprised at the reaction I got from family and friends. Has anyone else done this or is thinking about doing this?”
After having trouble pronouncing Ralph herself, she made the decision to change it to some she was more comfortable with.
She went on to say that her husband thought she was “mad” and her family were “shocked”, but reassured everyone that they have all since come around to the change.
She added: “I just think if you are unsure about your child’s name you should do something about it.
“At first my husband thought I was mad but when he realised I had a baby whose name I couldn’t say he was very understanding.
“People were shocked, but I think ‘So what?’. Now six months later we have a baby whose name we both love, and the mutterings of my in-laws have died down.”
She also noted that you are legally allowed to have your child’s name changed on their birth certificate before they turn one.
She said: “Anyway, as someone pointed out to me, how many different names (sweetie, darling, honey) do you have for your baby anyway? One more won’t make much difference, surely?
“Before the age of one you can just get the birth certificate amended but after one you do it by deed poll, but this is also easy to do.”
Commenters were divided over this, with some supporting her decision but others weren’t as happy about it.
One wrote: “We changed our son’s name unofficially at about seven weeks old. A few weeks later, when we’d decided we really did like the new name, we changed it officially. Easy peasy. No-one batted an eye.”
While another said: “I would be really surprised at someone doing this to be honest – never come across it. But if it didn’t feel right then I guess you did the right thing … must be hard for people to get used to!”
