A woman was left baffled when she received an invitation to her friend’s baby shower that revealed the name she’d given her daughter – as it was far from what she was expecting
There are some baby names you should just never use. For the most part, parents have free rein to choose whichever name they want for the child, whether it’s one that regularly features in the top 100 lists or something that stands out from the crowd. And while no name is universally loved, parents shouldn’t be judged for the name they pick.
However, sometimes parents just aren’t thinking straight when they stumble across a name they think sounds perfect, and it can leave more than a few people raising their eyebrows. That’s the situation one mum has found herself in, as she’s decided on a name for her baby that has friends and family begging her to change it.
A friend of the woman shared the news on Reddit when she uploaded a picture of her baby shower invitation that proudly stated the little girl’s name right in the centre.
Alongside adorable cartoon drawings of stars, moons, and a toy elephant, the baby shower announcement stated it would be held “in honour of” the mum’s soon-to-be-born daughter – Chernobyl Hope.
In her post, the mum’s friend said she was “speechless” after seeing what the little girl’s name would be, and added in the caption: “Welp … I just got invited to a baby shower …”
Chernobyl is largely associated with the disaster that took place at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in 1986 when the number 4 reactor exploded. The disaster is one of only two nuclear energy accidents rated at the maximum severity on the International Nuclear Event Scale, and is the worst nuclear disaster and the most expensive disaster in history.
The explosion killed two engineers and severely burned two others. It left 237 workers hospitalised, 134 of whom showed symptoms of acute radiation syndrome, and 28 of them died within three months.
As of 2005, there were 6,000 cases of childhood thyroid cancer within affected populations, and “a large fraction” were attributed to the disaster. Predictions of the eventual total death toll vary, but a 2006 World Health Organisation (WHO) study projected 9,000 cancer-related fatalities in Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.
But the mum who is reportedly planning to name her daughter after the disaster seemingly has “no idea” the event ever took place, as she told her friend she just thought it “sounded nice”.
In the comments, the friend clarified: “I have a feeling they don’t know what Chernobyl meant. I asked them where they got the idea from, and they said it just sounded nice.”
She also indicated the parents were likely to nickname their daughter “Cherry”, and said she would do her best to summon enough “courage” to tell them to change it.
She wrote: “I’ll let you guys know when I have an update. This invitation was sent in a group chat and was also personally sent to me. I just can’t believe they would name a baby girl Chernobyl. I’ll gather enough courage to tell them my thoughts.”
Commenters on the post were equally baffled by the choice of name, with many saying they couldn’t believe anyone would name their daughter after such a horrific disaster.
One person said: “This is so, so bad. They have to be told. Give them a book about Chernobyl as a gift for the baby shower. Because no.” Another added: “This felt like getting punched in the face. They had to have known, right?”
The woman did not state where the mum and her baby are from, but in the UK, names have to be accepted when registering a child. While there is no formal list of banned names in the UK, there are some restrictions that are likely to get certain monikers rejected.
Names cannot be offensive or obscene, cannot include numbers or symbols, and cannot be misleading (such as using a title like Sir or Lord) or impossible to pronounce. Ultimately, the Registering Officer has the final say in whether the name you want to register is practical and appropriate.
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