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17th May 2022

We named our daughter after her grandmother but fear she will be bullied over unique name

Kat O'Connor

One mum is feeling torn about her daughter’s name and is even considering changing it.

Her daughter is already 1 and a half so is it too late to make such a big change?

She explained that her little girl was named after her grandmother, who is from Africa.

However, the mum and her family now live in a Spanish-speaking country which means her daughter’s name has a different meaning in their language.

She told Reddit that her name translates to ‘water’ and now she’s worried her daughter will be bullied.

“We named her after my husband’s mother, he and his whole family are from West Africa, but we live in a Spanish-speaking country.”

“I love the sound and meaning of the name, and I find it beautiful that she shares the name with her grandma, who I admire greatly.”

Not only is she worried about her daughter being bullied, but the mum also said most people pronounce her name wrong.

“I fear that her being de facto called “water” will be the subject of years of bullying. So many jokes at hand.”

The family is due to move to a small town soon.

The mum feels it would be the right time to change her name.

“I haven’t talked to my husband about this so it’s not yet a real possibility,” she admitted.

The mum said other kids are “confused/amused” by her name.

“I certainly don’t want to cause her any trauma.”

Many agreed that it wasn’t too late to change her name, but others loved her name.

“If I met a kid named water when I was a kid, I would have thought it was the coolest thing ever.”

“How about a great nickname? Lots of people go by nicknames that have nothing to do with their given names.”

What would you do if you were in this mum’s situation?