A new mum was left dumbfounded when she asked her lactation consultant for the “worst” baby name she had encountered, only to be stunned by the response.
Naming a child is no mean – it comes with a lot of responsibility and the choice, whether it’s fair or not, can lead to societal judgments. That’s why it’s so important parents choose a moniker that suits both the innocence of infancy and the gravitas of adulthood.
While many parents deliberate and take great care when deciding on a name, keen for it to reflect their immense love and care for their child, not all name decisions end in satisfaction. There are instances where people feel embarrassed by their given names and some even border on extremes.
This seems to be the case for one new mum who was stunned after learning the “diabolical” name a little girl was given. The new mother, who has just welcomed her son, Calvin, into the world, took to Reddit to share her shock upon discovering the questionable name bestowed upon another new-born girl at the same hospital – ‘Burden’.
Sharing her bewilderment online, she recounted: “Just delivered my baby boy, Calvin, today. Got curious and asked the boob lady on my floor what was the worst name she ever saw on the job.
“She said hands down it was the little girl named Burden. F***ing Burden. I couldn’t believe my ears. That’s some Puritan 1700s s***.”
The name Burden is rarely used, but when it is, parenting site Prokerala says it’s mostly given to boys and means “one who lives at the castle”. However, most people associate it with its literal meaning – a heavy load, physical or mental.
Fellow Reddit users shared their thoughts on the name. One commented: “Burden is ROUGH. Imagine the poor kid in school. ‘Your mom named you that bc you are one.’” The new mum replied: “Absolutely diabolical”.
Another user wrote: “Burden is straight up awful! No good options for potentially mishearing either because Borden is just as bad!! Poor kid.”
The mum responded: “I was wracking my brain trying to think of a similar name or type of name they might have been going for but just didn’t realize how bad Burden was but [I don’t know], I think they were just evil.”
Some suggested the little girl could use the nickname ‘Birdie’ as she gets older, a name that, according to Nameberry, is of English and Swedish origin and means, quite simply, “bird.”
Another Reddit user asked of the name Burden: “How is that not considered abuse, seriously. The poor child will understand what her name means eventually.”
And another added: “I wonder if they didn’t know what it meant? You’d think you’d look it up though before inflicting that on a child.”