Reddit baby name: Regretful mum admits she wants to change her daughter’s name from Genevieve Iris

A mum has admitted she wants to change the name of her daughter, Genevieve Iris, after 18 months because it ‘sounds like a virus’. 

In a Reddit post, the regretful mum said she wished she had chosen something different as soon as it was made official, but felt as though it was too late to change it.

‘She already refers to herself as ‘WeeWee’ she can’t say VeeVee,’ she wrote.

She and her husband felt pressured to fill out the birth certificate before they left the hospital, despite not being 100 per cent comfortable with the name.

‘I kept thinking the anxiety over her name might have been due to postpartum depression, and I had hoped the negative feelings around the name would subside,’ she said.

‘Unfortunately, they haven’t, and I still feel a huge amount of regret. I feel like I have let my daughter down.’ 

Most people said they couldn’t hear the ‘virus’ in the name and also assured her ‘mum guilt’ is unavoidable.

‘I don’t hear virus at all, and it’s rare you’re even going to be saying ‘Genevieve Iris’, especially as she gets older,’ one mum said.

‘I cannot recall the last time I have said my kids middle names or even my own. It’s a non issue. And at 18 months there’s lots of time to make new nicknames. Gen, Genny, Viva, Ina, Gina, Gena, Eva or Eve or Evie,’ said another.

While some offered practical advice.

‘My niece goes exclusively by her middle name – her mum had name regret also and started using her middle when she was about 18 months old also. I’m willing to bet that most family members don’t even remember the switch over. She suits her middle name and loves it – her birth name literally never comes up,’ one woman said, suggesting the mum do the same.

‘It is not too late to change the name. If they’re still feeling regret after 18 months, just rip the band-aid off and change it, the sooner the better,’ said another.   

After a few hours the mum decided she would be changing her daughter’s middle name – to help tie into her Mexican heritage and to help with the flow. 

The mum said she has been regretting the name for 18 months but fears it is too late to change it 

‘We’re keeping Genevieve as we still appreciate its beauty and versatility. We’ve agreed to drop Iris and have picked a different bilingual middle name that has the added bonus of having a family connection,’ she said.   

It appears she is not the only person who has had the problem with those two names as one mum posted on Reddit seven years ago to ask if the name ‘fit’.

‘I love both names and I love it in writing, but I can’t get over the virus sound when I say them together. What do you think,’ she asked.

People loved the name then too.

‘My initial response was, ‘Omg, how pretty!’ I never even heard virus when I said it,’ one person wrote.

‘100% love this. Didn’t notice the virus thing. Pretty much no one is ever going to read these two names out aloud together, except for you and your partner,’ said another.