A teenager has been urged to change her name after sharing how it negatively impacts her day-to-day life – and leaves her in floods of tears when she thinks too deeply about it
When it comes to naming a baby, most parents spend hours flicking through the Big Book of Names mulling over all of their options. But one teenager says she wishes her parents would have considered how her “grandma” name would impact her growing up before signing it on her birth certificate.
The teen claims to have cried herself to sleep over her “embarrassing” name – saying she “hates it so much” and gets “bad anxiety” when introducing herself. She said on Reddit: “My parents chose such an awful name for me. It’s a literal granny name and I hate it so much when people try to tell me it’s not that bad and stuff.
“I have a sister and her name is better than mine for sure but she always gets mad when I complain about mine because apparently, mine has more ‘nicknames to choose from’.” The teenager, named Sharon, says she gets “genuinely jealous” when she hears other peoples’ names, as she wonders why her parents settled on Sharon.
“I see people complaining that their name is ‘too common’ but I would die for a normal name,” she added. “Who names an Asian kid Sharon? It’s literally not fitting at all. I feel like Sharon is either a white soccer mom type of name or a white grandma name. People like to compare my name to Karen and online I see a lot of people say stuff like Sharons and Karens are so annoying.”
She says she would prefer her name to be spelt with an ‘i’ rather than an ‘o’, creating Sharin or even Sherrin. Seeking advice, she added: “I’m literally a teenage girl with a granny name, how am I going to live the rest of my life being named Sharon?
“Whenever I bring this up with my mum, she just says ‘Okay then you can change it’ but the thing is I’ve lived so many years with the name Sharon, changing it randomly would be so weird and also I can’t think of any other names that would somewhat fit me since Ive basically just accepted defeat at this point. I feel like my life is over.”
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Commenting on her post, one user said: “Sharon van Etten is one of the coolest women in rock. I think it’s a very rebellious, punk, cool girl name.” Another user added: “You hate your name and even your mom is supportive of changing it. Just change it or go by a nickname. If you can’t deal with changing it right now then wait until you leave high school – you’ll meet a whole different group of people and the change will be easier then.”
A third user said: “Sharon is a beautiful name, but I understand it doesn’t work for you. I’m sorry you’ve had to exist so long with a name you hate. Pick a name you like and go by it casually to see how it fits, and keep doing that until you find the right one. Then, legally change it.”
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