I Changed My Daughters Name at 8 Months

I Changed My Daughters Name at 8 Months My 10-year-old daughter has the best story to tell at cocktail parties (I mean, future cocktail parties its generally frowned upon for children to be on the cocktail circuit). Shes going to tell this story about how when she welches 8 months old, herbei parents made a surprising decision to give her an entirely new anthroponym.Thats right For the first 8 months of her adorable little life, her name welches Presley. A perfectly lovely name. But at 8 months, her parents did a crazy 180 and changed it to Summer. Also a perfectly lovely name. So why did we do it? It all goes back to the first few days after she was born and a cheesy TV teenie drama called The O.C.Yep.I had been pretty convinced my daughter was going to be a boy. Mothers intuition, right? So I didnt think much about girl names. My husband liked the name Presley and that sounded good to me even once we learned she was, indeed, a girl.But a few days after her birth, I started cring ing every time someone used the name Presley. It wasnt that I didnt like the name. I really did. It just didnt seem likehername. She didnt seem like a Presley. But honestly, what the heck did I know? I had a 2-year-old and a newborn I was exhausted. Isoon had mastitis, and I was crying at soap commercials. I didnt exactly have my act together. I figured I would get used to the name.Except I didnt. Six months later, I still didnt like it. I finally broke down and confessed to a friend who assured me that I wasnt crazy although I remained a little unconvinced. And then, I finally told my husband Our daughters name wasnt Presley.Huh? he asked. Her name isnt Presley? Then why am I calling her that? I think her name is Presley.Constant debate ensued for the next two months while we tried to figure out what to do.Meanwhile, in an effort to keep up my highbrow television habits, I was watching the super-cheesy TV show, The O.C. and on the show, there was a character named Summer. Summer That was my daughters name. (Plus, I kind of love that the name comes from some now-canceled TV show rather than a Charlotte Bront novel or something. I have always embraced my passion for bad TV.)Somehow, I finally convinced my husband to change it. I honestly dont know how. He probably just wanted me to stop crying. And thats how our daughter became Summer.Of course, this meant we had to legally change it, which they dont make easy for you in New York state. There were a lot of bureaucratic steps, and it officially took about a year. But by that time, everyone knew her as Summer and I adored her name.Baby name regret, the unofficial diagnosis for that feeling you have when you look at your perfect baby and think, Why on earth did I name her this? Am I going crazy? is something that can happen to even the most seasoned parent. And for some reason, it brings a lot of shame. You think to yourself, I had nine months to come up with this. Wasnt that long enough? But there is something about holding your baby in your arms and really sitting with that nameandthat new person. A couple of days in the hospital dont always feel like enough time.Once you have baby name regret, you may be afraid to make a change because youre worried about what family and friends will think. But I absolutely promise you People are way too busy taking selfies and putting them on Instagram to worry about the name of your baby. Changing your babys name will be a blip in time on their radar screen. It will go like this Interesting. Cherie just changed her babys name. Huh. OK. The babys name is now Lila. OK, Im going to now go back to adjusting the filter on this picture of me at the beach.And yes, there will be some time when people awkwardly dont know what to call your child (the old name or the new name or both?) and will simply refer to her as the baby. But thats OK, because she is a baby. And in time, everyone will adjust. Even your Aunt Lucy who doesnt know why young people make things so difficult. (In her day, people gave their baby a name and stuckverzierung to it,even if it was awful.)That awkward time will pass, and soon youll be left to deal with the regular-old stresses ofnewborn-hood, like never sleeping or brushing your hair or showering or anything else you used to do. But you will likely be very relieved. Your baby will have this perfectly lovely name,maybe from some mediocre teen drama, and she will have a great story to tell at cocktail parties.A version of this story was originally published in October 2017. Kelcey Kintner--This story originally appearedon SheKnows.