A woman has turned to Reddit for support after her sister announced she plans to name her baby boy Dodge, continuing a car-brand theme she has used for her three daughters. The aunt believes the name is 'awful' and worries it could make the child a target for bullying once he starts school.
The older sister has already named her three daughters Mercedes, Kia and Lexus. She is now pregnant with her first boy, due in October, and is refusing to abandon the theme. Rather than choosing a car brand that might work as a conventional boys' name, such as Ford or Lincoln, she has set her heart on Dodge.
Family's reaction to the name
The aunt wrote: "My sister is pregnant with her first boy, due in October. She is dead set on the name Dodge. My older sister has had three girls, and this baby will be her first boy. Her daughters all have car names, so say what you will, but she's got a theme going on, and she is sticking to it."
She had initially kept her nieces' names out of the discussion, but later confirmed them in the comments section. Those following the thread were largely sympathetic to her concerns, with many agreeing that while the theme itself was harmless enough, Dodge was a step too far.
Online commenters weigh in
One person said: "Ford and Lincoln were right there. But at least she's not naming him Tesla."
Another added: "So many better car names! Holden, Chevy, Austin, Cooper, Romeo, Hudson, Logan and like the other poster said; Ford and Lincoln. Dodge is just dodgy."
A third wrote: "At least make his government name Douglas. Nickname can be Dodge or any other thing he prefers."
Others maintained they didn't think Dodge was necessarily a terrible name on its own, but conceded it did sound peculiar when paired with his sisters' names because the link becomes glaringly obvious.
Someone wrote: "I actually grew up with a Dodge! I think it helped because his brother's name wasn't a car name, so it's actually crazy that this is a theme."
Someone else posted: "I'm not going to pretend I'm not judging, but on the spectrum of truly awful and harmful names to names that are borderline acceptable, I'd put Dodge a little to the left of borderline acceptable. It fits in with the trend of using random words as names, it's at least spelt correctly, and if I saw it on a kindergarten cubby, I would think it was unusual, but my jaw wouldn't be on the floor."
UK baby name laws
Giving your child an unusual name is not illegal in the UK, but there are some rules to bear in mind. You cannot give your child names which are offensive or obscene, have numbers or symbols such as James2 or @Victoria, are misleading such as title-based names like Queen or Lord, or are impossible to pronounce.
According to the UK Deed Poll Office, names that are racist or considered to be harmful to the child could be illegal and banned in some parts of the UK.
