Those of us with unusual names usually reach a point in our lives where we embrace the unique moniker our parents so lovingly gave us - even if it does make giving your details to customer services over the phone an absolute nightmare.
But one mum has claimed her choice of name for her son was ridiculed so much by her friends and strangers online that she considered having it legally changed, as she was told she was "setting him up to fail", The Sun reports.
When Stacey Flinn, from Darlington, Durham, gave birth nine years ago, she and her husband Paul chose to name their son after a sweet nickname Paul had for his wife - and while the couple loved the name, they were told by friends and colleagues that they were setting their son up to get "bullied" at school.
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The mum-of-one said: "My husband's pet name for me was 'Stacey Bear', so when we had our son nine years ago, we decided to call him Bear. Some of our friends questioned it at first, saying 'That's an animal name, why would you do that to him?' and 'he's not going to get a job, they'll throw his CV away'.
"When I returned to work after my maternity leave, I had a few comments from people who weren't my direct colleagues, saying ‘Oh God what an unusual name, aren’t you worried he’ll get bullied at school?’. It all built up and I started to panic, thinking we'd made the wrong choice."
The comments left Stacey, 39, questioning her decision, and she initially considered changing Bear's name when he was just a few months old, as she wouldn't need to go through deed poll until after his first birthday.
And while searching for more advice, the NHS admin worker took to popular parenting forum Mumsnet - which only made matters worse, as cruel trolls branded her a "bad parent" for her choice of name.
She added: "A lot of people were saying ‘he’ll never get a job’, ‘you’re setting him up to fail’, ‘what an evil thing to do’ or ‘you’re a really bad parent’. It can completely dissolve your world, you think you’re doing the worst thing for your child. When ultimately it is just a name, it doesn’t define him."
Stacey was eventually convinced not to budge on the name by her husband, 40, but the negative comments continued to play on her mind, and she even looked into changing Bear's name by deed poll after he passed the one-year mark.
The mum felt as though she'd "failed" her son, but thanks to her husband's resilience, the couple were able to push through and are now in a position where they "don't care" what others think about their son's name.
And although Stacey faced harsh criticism for naming her son Bear nine years ago, the popularity of the moniker has since skyrocketed after Cheryl and Liam Payne chose the name for their son in 2017.
Now, Stacey says she often gets asked if she took inspiration from the former couple - even though her son is five years older than Bear Grey Payne.
As for her son, Stacey claims he has "never been picked on" for his unique name, and he "enjoys" having a moniker that's different from his school friends.
The mum explained: "A name doesn’t define a person, so if you want to call your child Tree or Apple or anything then go ahead, as long as it makes you happy.
"Especially if it means something to you. As much as it sounds silly, Bear means something to me and my husband, it wasn’t something random. And it's still a proper name, it was just something considered a bit different at the time."
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