For any parent, choosing your baby’s name is one of the biggest decisions you can make – after all, the child will be stuck with it for life. And unfortunately for one 40-year-old woman, she revealed how she’s “hated” her name all her life and was even “teased” at school because of it…so she’s finally decided to do something about it.
Taking to Reddit, the woman explained how her birth mother named her “Charity.” She continued: “I hated, hated, hated it with my whole heart my entire life.”
“I was adopted at 10 years old, and my family briefly considered changing my first name at the same time my last name changed, but everyone said it would be silly to do that.”
“I made it through jr high and high school with said name, and honestly the jokes and shit get really old really fast.”
The woman in question went on to explain how she tried using her middle name, but says her adopted family didn’t like her doing that, so it only lasted a few months. She added that fast forward many years, and as an adult she found most of her real friends all called her some shortened version of her gamer-tag, which she says is Natalliya.
“Most of those friends didn’t even know my real name was Charity, they all assumed my name was ‘Nat’ or ‘Natalie,’ she continued.
“By the time I turned 40– 100% of my friends called me Nat and I finally decided to take my life by the horns and for once do something only for me.”
So, taking matters into her own hands, she decided to legally change her name. Delighted with her decision, she added: “Changing my first name to Natalie was the single best thing I ever did for myself, and it gave me my power back, in a way.”
“I know that sounds dramatic, but it’s how I felt.”
It wasn’t long before the post was flooded with comments, with many commending the woman for finally taking the plunge, while others shared their own names that they are hoping to change.
“Thank you for sharing, Natalie! Great name, by the way.” praised one.
A second commented: “I changed my name at 39 and yes, I felt I got my power back!”
“I’m so very happy for you. This is great. We should all be able to go by a name we love.”
A third wrote: “My name is Karen! Yeah, I’m considering changing my name legally to my middle name.”
Meanwhile, a fourth noted: Good for you. We should normalise changing s**y names, especially with the upcoming generation of people named st like Branderleigh.
