Mum changes daughter's name three times in 18 months

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If you have ever had doubts about your child's name, spare a thought for one mum who has changed her daughter's name three times in 18 months.

The woman's husband took to Reddit to vent his frustrations. "My wife keeps wanting to change our baby's name, who is 18 months old," wrote rad_dad2016 on December 6.

"She knows changing the legal name is not possible so she wants a new name that we would just call her by."

The dad used letters to refer to the three names to protect his family's identity, explaining that they initially decided on A.

"A is born and everything is roses," he wrote.

But the name didn't stick, as the dad explains: "At the three month mark, my wife says she feels weird about the name because 'It's too common, it doesn't feel right, it seems like the wrong name'.

"She says B sounds more 'right' to her. Now at the 18 month mark, she thinks C sounds better."

Asking for advice, the dad said that he was at a loss as to what to do.

One commenter pointed out that it would be very difficult to change the baby's name legally. But the dad explained that wasn't the issue.

"I think she cares less about the legal name part, more about what she wants to actually call her. I'm pretty sure it's way too late to actually change her name legally. Nevertheless, we can't keep calling her different nicknames," he replied.

Another commenter said that further name changes will confuse the baby. "She's going to confuse the hell out of her own daughter if she starts calling her by a new name," one user wrote.

"At 18 months your child already understands her name and responds to it. I don't think the confusion and turmoil she's going to put her baby through is remotely worth whatever bizarre concerns she has about the name."

Another user commented: "Just stick with A, kid will get frustrated otherwise. Also, it will just be confusing for not only your child, but for family and friends as well."

Although making multiple name changes is unusual, baby name regret is not uncommon. In fact, earlier this year a survey found that one in five mothers felt "namer's remorse" for what they called their child, and would choose another one if given the opportunity.

"Choosing your baby's name is one of the first things new parents do, so in some ways baby name regret is great practice for parenting: you do a lot of hard work and research, try to please several people at once, and end up getting it wrong," said Mumsnet founder Justine Roberts.

"The consolation is that most children grow into their names - and those who don't can always fall back on middle names, nicknames or (in extremis) deed polls."

So perhaps the best bet for rad_dad2016's family is to just stick with A after all.