EVER heard a name that left you completely gobsmacked?
A post on Reddit has gone viral after a woman shared a baby shower invite, which revealed the name planned for an unborn baby.
The mum-to-be wanted to name her baby Chernobyl Hope[/caption]
Traditionally, parents share the name of their child after it’s been born, rather than beforehand.
This is usually down to superstition, but also to avoid scrutiny and negativity over the chosen name.
Posting in the group r/tragedeigh, the Redditor said: “I’m speechless…
“Welp.. I just got invited to a baby shower…”
The invite read: “Please join us for a baby shower. Join us to celebrate the upcoming arrival of a little bundle of joy.
“In honour of Chernobyl Hope.”
The time and place was redacted but the invite concluded with: “We can’t wait to celebrate together.”
Someone replied: “I refuse to believe this is real lol.” But the original poster added: “I have a feeling they don’t know what Chernobyl meant. I asked them where they got the idea from and said it just sounded nice????”
Another was unconvinced: “This has to be fake. There’s no way this is real.” But the OP doubled down: “Imagine my shock when I received the invite.”
The OP later explained how the parents of Chernobyl wanted their daughter to be known by the nickname ‘Cherry’.
“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,” they added. “I just can’t believe they would name a baby girl Chernobyl. I’ll gather enough courage to tell them my thoughts.”
One comment read: “This has gotta be a top ten worst names posted in the sub.”
Someone else felt the baby name was finally suitable for the Reddit thread and said: “FINALLY! a child named after a LITERAL tragedeigh!”
One person hoped the parents-to-be could be convinced to change their unborn baby’s name: “Thankfully it’s just the baby shower; there’s still time for someone to talk sense into them.”
But another thought the name wasn’t that uncommon: “I worked with a lady named Chernobyl. She went by Che.”
The struggle of choosing a baby name
CHLOE Morgan, a Senior Writer at Fabulous, has revealed her dilemma on choosing a baby name…
At 35 weeks pregnant, by far the trickiest part of pregnancy for me in the past few months (minus the insomnia and countless night-time wee breaks!) has been trying to decide on a baby name.
The dilemmas are endless…
My partner and I went for a private scan to find out the gender as early as we could – partly due to the fact we thought it would make baby naming so much easier because we’d only have to come up with a list of names for one gender rather than two.
How wrong we were…
I was absolutely thrilled to be told I was expecting the baby girl I’d already dreamed of, but being one of the last of my friends to fall pregnant, I’ve had countless conversations over the years with excited pals discussing their top baby names…something which I wish I could go back in time and un-hear.
With each friend mentioning at least 10 possible monikers, I can’t help but feel like several are now a no-go even though I know it’s something that none of them would mind in the slightest – it’s a total me problem!
The debate comes up time and time again on social media forums – can you choose the same name that was a “potential” for a friend’s baby?
It’s a very divisive topic and opinions are always mixed…and I don’t want to be THAT person.
While some will argue there’s thousands of other names out there to choose from, others will say you need to choose YOUR favourite…after all, there’s no guarantee that person will even have another baby.
Then there’s also the issue of finding a name you adore…only to research it online and read one negative comment amongst hundreds of positives that you just can’t shake off.
I made that very mistake when I fell in love with a certain name (I won’t reveal it because I don’t want to ruin it for others!) …only to see someone point out that it constantly gets autocorrected on a phone to something rather rude instead.
So, back to the drawing board we went..
Just five weeks to go and it looks like our little one is going to be known as ‘baby gal’ for a little while longer!
“Kid is going to think it’s cool that she was named after a show and then find out the origins of her name, lol,” a Redditor remarked.
What is the meaning behind ‘Chernobyl’?
The word Chernobyl refers to the Chernobyl disaster which was a catastrophic nuclear accident that occurred on April 26, 1986, at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near Pripyat, in the Soviet Union.
View of the Chernobyl Nuclear power after the explosion on April 26 1986 in Chernobyl[/caption]
During a late-night safety test, a sudden power surge led to a reactor explosion and fire, releasing massive amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere.
The explosion killed two workers immediately, and acute radiation sickness claimed 28 more lives within weeks.
However, around 600,000 ‘liquidators,’ involved in cleaning up the accident, were exposed to high doses of radiation, with various studies reporting that those affected by the blast could be in their thousands.
The Chernobyl disaster was a devastating tragedy, meaning it’s not a word associated with a person’s name.
But, there are other meanings to the word Chernobyl. One defended the possible new baby’s name, writing: “I mean, the word Chernobyl was originally the name of a common mugwort plant, a medicinal herb.”
They followed up their sentiment with the phrase: “But there’s a reason we don’t name children Adol[f] any longer, even if that name was relatively innocuous before 1939.”
“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,” replied someone else.
