When labor and delivery nurse Jen Hamilton was pregnant, she felt a big push toward the name Aspen.
“I was certain he would be an outdoorsy boy like his dad and brother,” Hamilton, who lives in North Carolina, tells TODAY.com.
But shortly after Aspen’s birth, Hamilton and her husband, Brian, quickly realized that their second-born did not, as she put it on TikTok, “have the soul of a river rafting tour guide.”
“It’s a super cool name — for someone else,” Hamilton shared in her now-viral video, noting that her son, who is now 8, “loves air conditioning and sitting down.”
Aspen was 18 months old when his name was legally changed to Luke, a name of Greek origin meaning light. According to his mom, it suits him perfectly.
“He’s just a little light,” Hamilton said. “And he may never guide river rafting tours, but he will, for sure, be in a very comfortable location, being just as sweet as he can be.”
Hamilton recalls feeling nervous about switching Aspen's name to Luke. The first person she told was her sister.
"I thought she was going to say, 'Oh, you'll get used to it,' but she had the opposite reaction," Hamilton remembers. "She said, 'Change it! He's just a baby and you don't have to feel this way.'"
Hamilton says it’s only natural that parents daydream about who their unborn baby will become and that influences the naming process.
“So picking out names can kind of be like putting your kid in a box before you meet them,” Hamilton explains.
For that reason, she encourages having a few baby name options that are truly loved.
As a labor and delivery nurse, Hamilton says people are often excited to announce the name they’ve chosen for their baby.
“Then, a few hours after the birth, they’ll go, ‘You know, this doesn’t fit…” Hamilton says. “You really don’t know your kid until you meet them and get to know them.”
Hamilton's TikTok followers agree.
"I have a friend whose cousin’s name is dawn. Dawn’s parents jokingly call her Dusk because she sleeps in so much," one person wrote in the comments.
Added another, "It’s crazy how some babies just fit/don’t fit their names. My one week old nephew is John and he looks like a John. It’s like he’s been here a week and he’s already grumpy about taxes."
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