Parents-to-be often spend months choosing the perfect baby name, but sometimes, a few unintended quirks only reveal themselves after the birth certificate ink has dried.
A Reddit thread asked parents, “Things you didn’t notice about your kid’s name until after you’d named them,” and the answers were as funny as they were unexpected.
How about that, little Orlando?
“No biggie and just kinda funny, but we named our son Orlando but will also call him Lando. I was introducing him as ‘Orlando, or Lando for short’ and it wasn’t until a workmate pointed it out, that I realised it made no sense saying it that way,” shared one bemused parent.
Another parent discovered a curious connection:
“My son’s name is Oren, he’s gravitated toward orange colored things since before he turned one. I guess whenever he hears Ms. Rachel say orange he hears his name. Had no idea when I named him I was also choosing his favorite color.”
A hilarious realization:
“By naming my youngest Charlotte, our family initials now spell CRAP. I only noticed when I ordered matching initials stockings for Christmas!”
RELATED STORIES
Then there’s the tale of phonetic mix-ups.
“I have a friend that named her kids Sam and Ella, but when she’s yelling at them it sounds like salmonella, the neighborhood thinks it’s hilarious- so I tried saying my kid’s names together.”
One mom said:
“My baby is named Rosemary, which we knew was a grandma name, but the amount of people who tell us wonderful heartfelt stories about the sweetest old women in their lives is just really really special.”
Some surprises involve pets:
“Very, very accidental. My dog was 3 years older than my son when he was born. The dog’s name was Chaplin, our son’s name was Charles. It’s when he got the nickname Charlie that I realized what we’d done.”
A parent faced pop culture associations they hadn’t anticipated:
Embed from Getty Images
“I named my son Chandler two years before Friends premiered.” I guess now everyone thinks they’re superfans, hehe.
Name pronunciation can also be an unexpected twist.
“Lydia- literally everyone hears Livia the first time. Occasionally Olivia, but usually Livia. Surely Lydia is higher probability than Livia???”
A pop culture icon has turned one mom’s choice into a running joke:
Embed from Getty Images
“The amount of times I’ve been asked if I named my daughter Chloe after Khloe Kardashian has almost permanently rolled my eyes into the back of my head” Yikes, I can only imagine!!!
Names can have unexpected associations for kids, too.
“Toddlers hear ‘potato’ instead of Mateo. I kind of love it though. He’s my little spud.”
Then there’s this near-miss:
Embed from Getty Images“I was looking at naming our son Heath, but all people hear is ‘Keith.’ I didn’t want him to spend his life saying ‘like the candy bar.'”
I would have thought of Heath Ledger more than a candy bar. Speaking of, there is a candy bar called “Heath”? I had no idea.
Some parents are caught off guard by nicknames:
“My son’s name is Christian, and I wasn’t ready for everyone calling him Chris… I dated multiple Chris’s and they were all horrible people!”
Another funny pet story:
“My daughter’s name is Clementine, and my dog’s name is Lemon. Guess who comes running when I call either?”
A parent lamented:
“How popular it was. I’d literally only heard it in the wild once and knew of one actor with the name. That’s it. It was also 23 years ago. His name is Liam.”
One parent didn’t foresee a geographic issue:
“One of my kids is named Alastair. We lived in Scotland when he was born and now we live in the US. I had no idea how much Americans would struggle with his name. It gets mispronounced all the time.”
This funny reversal:
“That he has a first name and a last name that could both be first names so people sometimes flip them around. Example Thomas Phillips to Phillip Thomas,” laughed another.
And finally:
Embed from Getty Images
“Named my daughter Jolene, after the song. Did not anticipate this song would be playing on repeat in my head 24/7. Still love the song though.”
Choosing a name for your child can be a monumental decision, filled with unexpected surprises.
Whether the name has surprising associations, mistaken pronunciations, or pop culture connections, parents soon learn that the name they chose is often just the beginning of the story.
