A mom thought she picked the perfect name for her baby — until people started booing her.
A mom-to-be already chose the name for her son, but she’s having doubts after realizing the name is the same as a very popular cartoon character.
She was initially debating between two names: Calvin and Jasper. But she and her husband ended up combining the names and came up with Casper.
The expectant parents love the name they chose, but the mom is now worried about her son having the same name as Casper the Friendly Ghost.
In a now-deleted Reddit post, the mom wrote, “My husband and I have two front runners for our July boy: Calvin and Jasper. Since we didn’t want to commit to either one and just for fun, we combined them and I started referring to him as Casper.”
“But now it’s got me thinking – is Casper actually usable? Could it be a contender? I know there’s the friendly ghost association, but I’m hesitant to worry about that considering the show was barely relevant to me and I’m 30, so chances are my son’s generation won’t have a clue what it even is. And even if they do, it’s not a bad association at all,” she continued. “However, I could be totally off here. Is Casper usable? And if not, do you prefer Calvin or Jasper?”
The comments, which are still visible on Reddit, were pretty split. A majority of the people thought the name was definitely usable while others said they personally would avoid it.
“I think it’s useable – the ghost association isn’t bad and it seems like Cassius and Caspian have been getting a bit more popular so it fits well with that,” one person wrote.
“My son has a Casper in his class and I 100 percent can’t think of anything other than the ghost. The children have no idea though,” another shared.
“I’d say you can get away with it unless y’all have very pale skin,” someone else said.
“I think this generation of kids won’t recognize it, but teachers/parents will. Really cute name actually, you can be the trend starter,” a user commented.
One person whose name is Casper chimed in, writing, “Casper here (26 years old)! Everyone kinda remembers the show/movie fondly so it’s a good association for my generation. The newer generation probably doesn’t know it at all! If anything there’s a slight connection to a company that makes beds/mattresses. Not bad either though, a good company. I’d say go for it! I used to dislike my name but now I love it! People often tell me how pretty the name is and I think it’s unique but not too niche.”
A few others disagreed.
“Guess I’m in the minority. I am not a fan. I just think of Casper the Friendly Ghost,” one said.
“Apparently I’m very much in the minority here. I think it’s very unusable. I’m basing this off the strong association I have with the ghost based on general pop culture references. I’ve never seen it (show, movie, i dont even know), but it’s far too strong of a connection for me,” another wrote.
Earlier this year, an Australian couple picked out the perfect name for their newborn, but their timing was less than perfect when the baby arrived 24 hours early. Convinced their baby would be born on her due date, they decided to give her the middle name May, after her expected birth month — but she popped out in April instead.
In another instance, an Australian woman nearing the end of her pregnancy revealed one of her favorite baby names on TikTok — and people responded that it sounds like a raunchy sex act. Perhaps because of Allie Smith’s Australian accent, when she revealed she loved the name “Augie,” many viewers mistook the name for the word “orgy.”