California mom-to-be Natasha Hill — the woman who was supposed to be getting $5,000 for allowing strangers to name her unborn baby via the site Belly Ballot — isn’t really pregnant. She isn’t even really named “Natasha Hill.”
Her name is Natasha Lloyd, and she’s an actress who was hired by the website’s founder to help drum up publicity.
Yep — the whole thing was a hoax. The folks at Today.com were the ones to figure it out:
When TODAY Moms first reported on the contest, some readers were incredulous; they couldn’t believe a real mom would do such a thing. Now it appears they were right.
Except…they weren’t. Several “real moms” (and dads) have indeed done such a thing. Here are all the for-profit baby names (and attempts) I know of:
- 1880s: Salida, free plot of land
- 1927: Robert Edward, free fur robe
- 1975: Scott, B.A.S.S. lifetime membership for free
- 1990s: Pixy, $500
- 2000: Iuma, $5,000 or music downloads
- 2001: Baby Black, auction failed*
- 2002: Baby Armstrong, auction failed*
- 2002: Turok, $10,000 (failed?)
- 2002: Baby Johnston, unknown*
- 2004: Dot/Dorothy, free pizza party (failed?)
- 2005: GoldenPalace.com, $15,000
- 2006: ChamberMaster, $375
- 2008: Baby Partin, unknown
- 2008: Brooklyn, free pizza party
- 2009: Baby Drummond, auction failed
- 2009: Benito/Rachele, $1,940
- 2010: Melania, free website rewards points
- 2011: another GoldenPalace.com, $15,000
- 2011: Israeli baby, unknown
- 2011: Dovahkiin, free video games
- 2013: New Jersey baby, sale failed
- 2015: Quinoa, free food (failed?)
- 2018: Harland, $11,000
- 2020: Twifia, free internet
- 2020: Dominic/Dominique, free pizza
- 2021: Muhammad/Mahmoud/Ahmed, 3,600 Egyptian pounds
*I never blogged about these three, so here are the details:
- In 2001, Jason Black and Frances Schroeder of New York tried to auction off the name of the their third child (first son) via Yahoo and eBay. They were aiming for a corporate sponsor, so the bidding started at $500,000. No one bid. They ended up naming the baby Zane Black.
- In 2002, Bob and Tracy Armstrong from Florida tried to auction off the name of their baby (gender unknown) via eBay. After eBay pulled the auction for the third time, they decided not to try again.
- In 2002, Heather and Steve Johnston of Washington state tried to auction off the name of their baby boy via eBay. The bidding started at $250,000. I found no follow-up stories, so I imagine the auction was either pulled or unsuccessful.
Video games on one end, $15,000 on the other…such wildly different values placed on baby names. Kinda fascinating, isn’t it?
Sources: $5,000 online baby-name contest revealed as hoax, Mom crowdsources baby name for $5,000
Image: Adapted from $20 Federal Reserve Bank Note (1929) (public domain)
[Latest update: March 2022]