Self-indulgent parents name daughter Pennsylvania, flip out when she changes it and keeps it a secret for 5 years: 'My parents insisted that everybody was to call me by my full name'

Ally Perry • Writer and Editor

Apr 30, 2024 6:00 PM EDT

Choosing your child's name is one of the first major responsibilities that you have as a parent. While other decisions that you make may have more of an impact on how they develop as a person, it can't be forgotten that they will have to sit with whatever collection of letters you most enjoyed when they were born for the rest of their lives. This can make things harder on those kids who have unusual or 'creative' names. Just look at the pushback Nara Smith gets for what she and her husband named their children.

One Redditor knows the pain of this all too well, after her parents named her Pennsylvania and insisted on many around her using her full name for all of her childhood. After years of going by Penn or Penny, she got her full name changed to Penelope at 21—something she kept a secret from her parents. Several years later, she felt she had to come clean as she was going to have her new name used in her wedding vows. It's fair to say that mom and dad didn't react positively.