Mom ‘Struggling With Name Regret’ Wonders If She Should Change Her 3-Month-Old Son’s Name — 'I Could Not Call Him By The Name We Gave Him'
Feeling unsure about a name actually isn't all that uncommon, according to experts.
Natalia Deriabina | Shutterstock Naming a baby is no easy task. After all, the name you give them is the name they’ll be known by for the rest of their life.
One mom thought she had a good name picked out but succumbed to anxiety surrounding her choice after her baby was born. Now she's wondering, at three months old, if she should change her son's name.
A new mom considered changing her baby’s name as early as three weeks postpartum.
One mom who has found herself “struggling with name regret” since her son’s birth took to Reddit to ask for advice regarding whether or not she should change his name.
“My son is three months old,” she explained in her since-deleted post. “At three weeks, I could not call him by the name we gave him. The name that I pushed for almost my entire pregnancy.”
Instead of the name she had once loved so dearly, she thought another name suited him better.
“I kept seeing him as a Logan,” she said.
“I told my husband my feelings. He told me I could change it if I wanted to,” she continued. “I was back and forth for a week. It drove me crazy.”
Ultimately, the mom chose to stick with the name that she had originally picked out.
“In the end, I decided not to change it because it was too similar to my other son’s name, and they didn’t sound right together,” she stated.
However, she still had other names on her mind.
She added, “During all of this, I also told my husband that he looked like a Mason, but I didn’t really like how that went with our last name that also starts with an M.”
Eventually, this mom felt like she had gotten used to her son’s name.
“His name started to grow on me again, and I can call him by it now, but I still feel like he doesn’t look like his name,” she explained.
To make matters worse, she and the baby were around a group of friends who freely shared their opinions on his name.
“I was with a bunch of old friends yesterday, and one of them randomly brought up how he looks like a Mason, and then others agreed,” she said in dismay. “Then I went home, and I told my husband how a few people were saying he looks like a Mason, and he laughed and was like, ‘Yeah, he does.’”
This has unsettled the mom again and left her wondering if she should change her son’s name after all.
“Now I’m going back and forth in my head again, and my husband might think I’m nuts if I bring this up again, but I don’t know why I’m struggling with this so much,” she concluded.
This mom is not alone in regretting her name choice for her baby.
According to Nameberry, “Baby name regret … allegedly affects between 10-20% of new parents, yet the perceived stigma deters many from sharing their feelings or stories.”
When explaining how to recognize actual regret versus feelings of just getting used to your baby’s name, Nameberry said, “Most parents feeling name remorse report negative feelings — such as anxiety, a pit in their stomach or a sinking feeling — when they hear other people say their child’s legal name. Often, these parents avoid saying their child’s name aloud — they might use pet names like Baby or Buddy instead.”
However, Nameberry did point out that just because you feel a little unsure about your baby’s name does not mean that you are regretting it or need to change it. Multiple things can play a factor in feeling that way, including postpartum depression.
After being asked in the comments, the mom from Reddit admitted that her son’s given name was Caden.
While that is an excellent choice, she really couldn’t go wrong with any of the names she is considering.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer for YourTango who covers entertainment, news and human interest topics.