A mum who chose to invent a new baby name for her daughter quickly learned it has a less-than-desirable meaning.
Finding the perfect name for your child can be a minefield, with the potential for quick judgments and biases meaning parents must tread with caution to avoid any future embarrassment or discomfort for their child.
In the pursuit of uniqueness, some parents prioritise standing out over practicality, leading to names that are either hard to pronounce or have unconventional spellings.
One mother combined Katrina and Larissa – names she rejected for being “too common” or “too old” – to create ‘Latrina’ for her daughter, a choice that was met with criticism online. Unfortunately for the mum, it was noted that ‘Latrina’ closely resembles the word for “toilet” in certain European languages.
One social media user commented: “You literally named your daughter after a toilet. Well done.”
The unfortunate name then became a topic of conversation on Reddit‘s Tragedeigh forum, which is dedicated to poking fun at peculiar and ill-fated names found both in real life and across the web. The subreddit has attracted 515K members all too willing to share their views on naming disasters considered “tragic”.
Reddit’s comment section was abuzz with reactions to the baby-naming story. One user couldn’t resist making a pun, suggesting: “Well, unfortunately someone just gave her the idea of Lavatory for her next daughter. LavvaToreie, Lahvahtoree, there are options depending on pronunciation.”
Another commenter expressed relief that others had pointed out the potential mistake: “I’m glad people told her instead of ‘omg it’s soooo cute and unique’!”
A third found humour in the situation: “I’m laughing way harder than I should at this.”
Meanwhile, another couldn’t grasp the aversion to traditional names: “I just can’t understand what’s wrong with ‘old’ names, FFS”.
The jokes continued with one person saying: “We call her Lava or Torrie but not both” and another questioning the name choice: “They couldn’t go with Katrissa??”
In agreement, someone else suggested alternatives: “Or Karissa? Karina? Larina? …Kalina? Kalissa?” Concerns were raised by a user who feared the child might be teased: “‘Latrine’ is already a known term in U.S English too. I’ve heard plenty of other Americans (mostly from the south) refer to it that way. So that poor kid is definitely getting made fun of.”
One simply quipped: “Tauighlette.” Another recounted an anecdote about a translation mishap: “I once met someone who had the kanji characters for toilet tattooed on them, after someone told them it meant ‘being useful to those around you’. Technically not wrong, I suppose.”
And yet another added a note of caution: “As always, when people try to eschew tradition, they end up looking foolish.”