Choosing the perfect name for a new baby can be quite the challenge.
It requires agreement with your partner, a sense of appropriateness and it must be timeless. All in all, this can make the process quite daunting for parents.
One mother, who gave birth to her daughter in January, shared her surprise at the reaction she received from hospital nurses after naming her child. She took to Reddit to express her bewilderment, saying she has always been fond of the name she chose, but the response was unexpectedly strong.
Nurses were “shocked” by the name’s rarity, despite it being relatively well-known in the past. The mum shared: “My baby girl was born on 1/20/25 and I was a little shocked at the response we got about her.
“We named her Loretta, and so many nurses said they had never heard the name before, and that it was so pretty and unique. When did Loretta become a unique name?
“I’ve always thought it was an old school common name, but apparently not anymore? Does nobody remember Loretta Lynn? I felt like I was in a mild Twilight Zone episode.”
Since sharing her story, numerous people have voiced their admiration for the name Loretta, remarking on its elegance. While deemed “classy” by some, others speculated that the younger generation might simply not be familiar with icons like Loretta Lynn – the celebrated American country singer whose career stretched across more than sixty years.
The post sparked a range of reactions, with one person commenting: “Loretta is beautiful. I would say it’s uncommon now and thus deemed ‘unique’.”
Another parent shared: “My daughter is named Loretta too! We’ve gotten a lot of compliments on her name.”
Someone else added: “I work in geriatrics and everyone seems to have known one person from their past with the name. I think it was a known name at the time but not super common.”
However, not everyone agreed that Loretta is a unique name. A fourth chimed in with: “Huh. I wouldn’t have considered that unique. Old-fashioned (in a good way) and not popular (also in a good way), but not unique.
“It’s a standard old-timey name lol. Not even that old. There’s a character on How I Met Your Mother with that name, a very popular show. That’s how I know it. Congrats on your girl and her beautiful name!”