A mum has confessed she decided to change her son's name six months after he was born, after she was left feeling "uncomfortable" with the one she had originally chosen. Jen Hamilton, 32, and her husband Brian, 35, had initially picked out the name Aspen for their little boy, but they began to doubt their decision when people told them he could be "bullied" at school over the moniker.
Jen, a labour and delivery nurse, then began to worry that she'd made a horrible mistake, until her sister suggested that she could just change her son's name to something else. And so, she did, with the mum-of-two and her husband eventually settling on the name Luke.
The mum, from Charlotte, North Carolina, USA, said: "I started to feel really uncomfortable saying Aspen out loud as it just didn't seem to fit him. With our first child, we'd been very set on a name but with our second we were struggling to find the right one and just settled on Aspen after seeing it on a Pinterest list of outdoor names.
"I thought it would fit when he was born but after a couple of months, I was struggling with it. People suggested that he might be bullied if it was shortened to 'Ass' when he is older and I started to pretend I didn't hear people asking his name.
"It was an exciting time trialling names for him. It's hard to name a baby you've never met so it was easier now we knew him.
"Now we love Luke and think it is perfect for him. We're so glad we changed it."
Jen and Brian, an operating room nurse, had never been thrilled with the name Aspen, but after struggling to find one they liked for months during Jen's pregnancy, they settled on the moniker as the only one that had really grabbed their attention.
The couple were also left disappointed by other people's reactions to their son's name, as none of them ever told them it was a "lovely name", and saying it out loud just made them feel "awkward".
Jen - who gave birth to Luke in 2016 - added: "We weren't in love with the name but thought it would become his name. But after a few months, it wasn't feeling right and people's reaction to his name would always be, 'Ah that's interesting'.
"They'd never say, 'That's a lovely name', or something like that. I started to feel really awkward telling people what his name was."
After six months of struggling to get to grips with the name they had picked, Jen spoke to her 27-year-old sister Julia Koontz, who told her that if she wasn't happy, she could just change it.
"She just very nonchalantly said why don't you change it," Jen said. "It kind of gave me the permission to do it.
"He was still young and it's not like he was attached to the name. I spoke to Brian and he was happy to change it. So we entered a period of trying out new names - like trying on clothes."
"We both really liked the name Luke and found out it meant 'light'. Our son was always so happy and smiley so that felt like it really fit him."
The couple then started the process of having their son's name legally changed to Luke, but due to lost paperwork, it took over a year for the alteration to finally go through.
Now, Jen has joked that pregnant people shouldn't be allowed to choose names for their children until the little one is born, and wants others to know that changing your child's name is an option if you don't like the one you first picked.
She said: "I feel like it should be illegal to choose a name when you're pregnant.
"We're very glad we changed the name as it's exactly what he's supposed to be. I want to let people know changing a name is an option if you don't like it after they're born.
"Luke knows he was called Aspen for six months. It's a fun part of his story."
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