‘I cringed every time I had to tell someone my baby’s name so I changed it’

A mum who chose a “cool” name for her newborn son was quickly left second guessing her decision – and after just three months she went through the process of legally changing it

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Nurse shares most ‘unfortunate’ baby name she’s ever heard

‘Naming remorse’ is not a rare feeling for parents after the arrival of a newborn.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how set mums and dads are on a name, once they begin using it in day-to-day life it can bring a very different feeling.

For one mum, the regret over the name she had chosen for her son became so bad she “cringed” when she had to introduce him, and just three months later she went through the process of legally changing it.

Kate, from Australia, thought that naming her child Cash had seemed like a “cool idea” at first. She said: “In my sleep-deprived post-natal delirium, I felt like maybe we could pull it off.

“You know, as a nod to Johnny Cash, even though I could only name one of his songs; I Walk the Line.”

But after the name had been officially finalised, a few interactions shattered the parent’s illusion of the “cool” moniker.

The first domino to fall was when Apple rolled out its latest iPhone software update, prompting emojis to appear when relevant words were typed, meaning the mum was left staring at a picture of an old-school bag of money when she mentioned her son.

She faced jokes asking if the name was spelled with a dollar sign like music star Ke$ha and it wasn’t long before she was gifted a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Cash is King’, as reported by Kidspot.

Kate says the final straw came when another parent referred to Cash as a “hipster name”, and it reached the point she “cringed” when she had to introduce him to someone new.

When Cash was three months old, his name was legally changed to Rueben and Kate’s friends came forward to admit they were relieved.

Kate added: “My friend is a celebrant and she came over and gave Reuben a renaming ceremony.

“It involved some level of roasting, which I appreciated. A sense of humour is always helpful in situations like these.”