Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Record
Daily Record
World
Julia Banim & Hannah Mackenzie Wood

Parents left red-faced after midwife explains embarrassing baby name spelling

A midwife had to convince a couple against choosing an unusual spelling for their son's name - because actually meant something completely different. The new parents picked out the name Colin for their little boy, but didn't want to use the traditional spelling.

Instead, in an effort to make the name more unique, they decided to go with Colon - not realising they were naming their bundle of joy after an organ in the digestive system. Reddit user @skippyist shared the story in a Reddit thread that asked nurses and midwives if they had ever had ever had to persuade parents against certain baby name choices.

As reported by the Mirror, they said: "My classmate's mother was a maternity nurse and she has a couple who wanted to name their son 'Colin' but wanted to give him a 'unique' spelling for it. (I do not understand why parents do this. It doesn’t make a boring name more interesting all it does is set your child up for lifelong inconvenience.)

The midwife advised the new parents against the unusual spelling choice. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

"They spelled it out for her to put on the birth certificate C-O-L-O-N. They tried to name their son colon. As in, the organ attached to your anus.

"When my classmate's mother explained this to them they were painfully embarrassed and asked her to write it down with the normal spelling instead. I don’t think they’ll ever live it down."

Of course, there have no doubt been countless incidents where the midwife felt the need to step in and make some alternative suggestions, as shown by numerous responses to the original comment. One person wrote: "I went to school with a kid named Happy. He was the moodiest emo kid I’ve ever known."

Another said: "I realise there is a slight excuse due to it being a different language, but my sister (who moved to the Netherlands, where they speak Dutch but are generally fluent in English) met a family who called their new baby boy 'Semen'. Apparently, it was a cool way of writing Simon..."

Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.

READ NEXT:

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.