A recent online survey revealed that 54% of parents in the United Kingdom regret the name they chose for their child. The survey was conducted by the web community, Gurgle.com, and included participation from over 1,000 moms and dads. Yourbabydomainname.com, an American website, conducted a similar survey late last year that interestingly resulted in a much lower number. According to their survey, only 8% of American parents claim to regret the name they gave their child.
Both surveys relied completely on voluntary participants, rather than a pure sample of new parents, so that may explain the dramatically different results. However, according to both surveys, British and American parents both claim the reason for their regret is due to the fact that the name they chose became too common.
Celebrities, Beyonce and Jay-Z took a drastic step to prevent that from happening with their new baby girl, Blue Ivy Carter. The new parents decided to have the name Blue Ivy Carter trademarked to prevent the abuse of the unusual name. According to US law, “Parents have a right to trademark their minor children’s names, but the name has to be both distinctive and connected to some expectation of commercial enterprise.” Now the trademark doesn’t mean that other parents cannot name their child Blue Ivy, but it does mean that they cannot capitalize on the name itself.
On the other hand, if you feel that your child’s name has become too common you could opt to change your child’s name. BabyCenter.com recently conducted a poll of 1,219 mothers of which 10% considered changing their baby’s name. Some parents have admitted to changing their baby’s name after they were born. For instance, one couple in Cleveland chose to change their daughter's name from Emma to Caroline when she was still a newborn. Another couple in Connecticut made the decision to switch their daughter’s name from Sophie to Isadora when she was four years old. According to the parents, there were too many Sophies in their daughters’ preschool class.
To avoid post naming regret, take a look at this article from Nameberry.com which offers the top seven mistakes that new parents make when naming their baby and solutions for choosing a name that your child will live happily ever after with.
