A name is the greatest gift a parent can give their kid, second only to life itself.

Regardless of how popular the name may be, it represents your individual identity, and throughout the course of a lifetime, that title largely stays the same, keeping a permanent link to the place of your birth.

In this tale, a new mother is regretting her choice just one week after giving her baby a name. Discover why a fan finds the newborn’s name “pretty terrible sounding” by reading on.

A woman going by the moniker Mean Wranglers posted her sad tale on Reddit’s Name Nerds in the early months of April 2024 in the hopes of receiving assistance from the internet community.

The author tells the reader that she and her husband struggled for nine months to come to a decision on a name for their newborn daughter, who was just a week old when her mother published the piece.

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“We both had a [favorite] the other didn’t like. Mine was Ottilie and his Aubrey.” The new mother continues: “Etta was our compromise name, but he soon went off it after birth.”

After changing his mind, the original poster (OP) then shares that her husband offered an alternative.

“He mentioned Sigrid and I thought I liked it and agreed,” writes the now regretful mother.

Butt of jokes

According to baby name meanings, Sigrid is a name of Scandinavian and Old Norse origin, meaning “beautiful victory.”

But the author and her husband are not Scandinavian, and the new mom fails to see the beauty or victory in a name that sounds like a really bad habit.

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“Now I’m worried she will get bullied for [her name] sounding like cigarette” writes the OP,  suggesting the name Sigrid is too close to the highly addictive death sticks.

She also realized the nickname Ziggy or Siggy, both monikers adored by her husband, sounds like the slang term for a cigarette.

Looking for some reassurance from the online community, the mom asks Redditors for their opinions on her little girl’s name.

Users jumped in, many supporting the name that’s unusual in many parts of the world.

“OP, I don’t see any problem with Sigrid. I have a common name and was still mildly bullied with a nursery rhyme that had the name in it,” writes one user. Another adds: “I think it’s a really cool name. I would not worry about her getting teased…I don’t think children will [bully her].”

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Other cybernauts referenced the author connecting the name Sigrid to a cigarette.

One Redditor first says the baby’s name sounds “terrible” and then offends residents in the U.S. south: “I’ve thought about it for a while, and it’s pretty terrible sounding. I don’t know where OP lives, but as [an] American, the way I read it sounds exactly how southerners say cigarette.”

Defending her fellow southerners, another netizen responds to that comment: “I live in the Deep South…the word cigarette has [three] syllables down here so I’m not hearing a ton of similarity.”

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Meanwhile, one cyber fan offers the new mom some encouragement: “You’re only a week into postpartum. It’s natural to be a bit panicked in general. Give yourself time to settle in before you think about changing something as big as her name. See if it starts to settle in and feel more familiar.”

Before concluding her post, the author writes that she’s going to speak with her husband and propose a name change. “I like Beatrix and he may be willing to change it,” the OP adds.

What advice can you offer this Redditor? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section and then share this story so we can hear from others!