What if you change your mind about your baby's name?

Whether you spend hours perusing baby name books or you turn to your favourite soap character for inspo, naming an actual human being is a big responsibility. But no matter how much time and care you take in choosing a moniker for your newborn-to-be, some parents are going to suffer from baby name regret.

One such mum is parenting blogger Sophie Cachia. The now mum-of-two happily live streamed the birth of her second baby, a daughter, Betty Cachia, on Saturday.

But two days after the birth, the 26-year-old who blogs at The Young Mummy also revealed to her followers that she was having doubts over the name she chose for her daughter.

“I’m starting to worry she doesn’t look like a Betty,” she wrote on Snapchat alongside a photo of her baby daughter and a pensive Emoji face. “And doubting if I should have gone with the other name.”

Sophie isn’t the only parent to question their choice of baby moniker. According to a recent survey one in five mothers feels ‘namer’s remorse’ and would pick another name for their child if they had the choice.

The survey by parenting site Mumsnet revealed that of the 245 mothers who regretted the names they gave their children, 12% “always knew it was the wrong choice”, 3% knew from the moment the child was born, 8% knew within a couple of days, 32% knew within the first six weeks and almost a quarter (23%) began to regret their choice when their children first started nursery or school.

The main reason for regretting the name was that it was too commonly used, while just over one in five mums who regretted their choice claimed the name just didn’t feel right. A fifth said they had never liked the name but had been pressured into using it.

Just over 10% of mothers said the problem wasn’t that they didn’t like the name, but more that it didn’t suit their baby.

“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,” explains Justine Roberts, founder of Mumsnet.

“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.”

Some of the mums who commented on Sophie’s Snapchat post revealed that they had the same concerns and while some admitted they had eventually got over them, others also confessed to going on to actually change their baby’s name.

“A friend of mine changed her bubbas name 3 days after she was born. Went from Ivy to Chloe,” one mum wrote.

In the end after giving it some time to process the birth and let her hormones settle, Sophie realised she had chosen the right moniker after all.

“I was scared that I rushed and named her Betty really quickly,” she wrote. “And she definitely does look like the other name too. I think the issue is that my body is in shock… I thought she was a boy.”

“So although I had two girl names and one boy I didn’t think I would have a girl,” she continued.

“So I did… I had a massive freakout this morning I said to Jaryd I wanted to change her name and then I didn’t want to change it. And now she’s Betty blue eyes and she’s beautiful.”

So if you’re suffering the same baby name regret as Sophie, maybe give it some time, sleep on it, or rather not sleep on it (you do have a newborn afterall) and see if your little one does ‘grow’ into their name. But if you really can’t live with it, you’ll either have to rely on a nickname, use their middle name or get it officially changed by deed poll. In which case the search for the perfect moniker will have to begin all over again. *sighs*

Did you suffer from baby name regret? Let us know @YahooStyleUK

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