Ever Wanted to Change Your Child’s Name?
| 13 August 2010 | Filed under Baby Names, Boy Names, Girl Names, Questions & Mysteries, Unisex Baby Names |
A friend of mine almost changed the name of her second daughter. While she didn’t end up making the change, it’s not unheard of for parents to legally change the names of their children–even years after the fact.
That’s what Johnny Carson did. According to all the biographies, Johnny’s three sons are named Christopher (b. 1950), Richard (b. 1952) and Cory (b. 1953). But Richard and Cory weren’t born Richard and Cory. They were born Kim and Barry.
In 1957, Johnny and his wife changed the names of their two youngest sons. Kim Arthur, who was five at the time, became Richard (nickname Ricky). Barry William, who was three, became Cory. Kim had been having “a little trouble over his name being mistaken for a girl’s” (actress Kim Novak was hitting it big in the late 1950s) and Barry simply preferred the name Cory to his own.
Loading ...If you answered yes, please tell us more. Why did you want to make the change? What names were involved? Did you end up going through with it?
Sources:
- “Carson Boys Get ‘Real Guy’ Names.” Sun [Baltimore] 13 Sept. 1957: 3.
- “Johnny Carson Changes Names of Two Sons.” Los Angeles Times 13 Sept 1957: B1.
I have a friend who changed her son’s name 3 days after giving birth because their family members objected vehemently to the original given name.
My sister’s name was Niamhe for a few weeks before it was changed to Brighid because grandmother didn’t like it and my brother Aidan(who was born way before the name become so trendy..) was Declan for 2 months, but his initials were DDD, Declan Drummey Doyle was just to harsh on a baby. I think the biggest name change I know was a mother that I know who reluctantly named her daughter Sydney and when Syd was almost 3 she couldn’t take it any more and renamed her Lillian. That was 3 years ago, my siblings were a long time ago.