I fought hard for Sébastian, François, and Henri.
My wife wouldn’t budge on her dislike for all 3. For girls we were in agreement, Amélie, Inés, and Éloise topped our list. That was a no brainer. But boys’ names? Boys’ names were hard for us to agree on.
I don’t know how we came to settle on Zacharie, but we did. And I love it. I love that his nickname is Zed, not Zach. It’s just .. him. I wouldn’t change it. Same for my Chooch. I wanted Charles, my wife wanted Charlie, I got the birth certificate, she gets everyday usage, it’s perfect.
We would never change our boys’ names. But some are not so fortunate with their choices.
According to a new survey, 18% of parents say they REGRET what they named their kid. Here are the nine reasons why . . .
1. The name was too trendy so too many other kids have it.
We checked lists all. the. time. in the months leading up to our boys being born. Zacharie and Charlie are in the top 100, but not the top 10. My wife is a Jennifer. She knows what it’s like being Jennifer C, Jennifer H, Jennifer R, etc in class lists. That wasn’t going to happen.
I wonder if those changing names started with an Aiden, Kaden, Jaden, Braden, etc. ? Or perhaps those followed a Twilight / Frozen / Game of Thrones wave of excitement? Oh noes.
2. Quote, “It just doesn’t feel right.”
I don’t get how that can happen.
3. They never liked it in the first place, but they were pressured into picking it.
We had to have full agreement from both of us to pick the name for our kids. No outside family influences, just my wife and I.
4. It doesn’t suit their kid.
Huh? See 2 above.
5. It’s not distinctive enough.
Seriously, people, I’ve written about this before and how striving for unique is part of the problem. Enough with the weird spellings, crazy names, etc. Pick something simple and classic and you’re good.
6. There are spelling or pronunciation issues with it.
See #5 above. I wanted French names for our boys, so Zacharie needs to be spelled out every time we give his name. It can be pronounced, but he’s never going to find a mug with his name on it at a tourist trap. Which I’m fine with.
7. They don’t like the shortened version that their kid wound up being called.
It’s Zacharie, not Zach. We did this with every single name we debated. We shortened it, slanged it, made teasing names with it. You need to train your child to say their name. When someone calls him Zach, he immediately responds “I’d prefer it if you called me Zacharie, please.” He has done it on his own, without prompting, problem solved.
8. There’s been a change in public perception of it since they picked it . . . like all those parents who named their daughters “Isis.”
I’m sorry.
9. A celebrity wound up using the name for THEIR kid.
Well you did name your child Apple. 😉