'My son is named after piece of furniture and is begging us to let him change it'
A woman is seeking advice after sharing how her son wants to change his unusual name for his seventh birthday - but while she appreciates his request, she wonders if he's too young to make such a decision
A mum has sparked a debate after revealing she is considering allowing her son to change his name for his seventh birthday.
She explained how she adopted her son three years ago and didn't want to change his name because his birth mum gave it to him.
But now he is older, he has started to dislike his unusual name because it's the same word as a common piece of furniture - Table*. She said on Reddit : "He had a rather unusual name but we decided to keep it. We researched a lot and although the name seemed awfully silly, it felt wrong to take his name from him.
"His name is the name of a piece of furniture. For the sake of the question, I will use the first name Table. We actually decided to keep his entire name but we just rearranged things to include our surnames. His full name was Table Michael Harrison.
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"My husband and I gave our son both of our last names and made Michael and Harrison both his middle names. Therefore, his name became Table Michael Harrison Smith-Jones." She says the children at school have been teasing him over his name - so he started going by his preferred middle name instead.
"He decided to use Harrison from that point forward. It took a little while to get everyone on board, but he was in first grade this year and everyone now calls him Harrison. He gets upset any time he sees his actual first name written down on forms.
"He gets upset when he has a substitute and she calls him Table. He really doesn't like his first name and he said it makes him think of bad things."
Now, rather than ask for new toys or a day out to celebrate his birthday, the only thing he wants is to legally change his name.
Seeking advice, the mum added: "His seventh birthday is coming up and he asked if we could change his name to Harrison for his birthday present. We told him that we would think about it. Of course, that won't be his only present but it struck me as pretty serious that it was his birthday request.
"He wants to get rid of Table completely and become Harrison Michael Smith-Jones. Would you let your kid do it?"
Commenting on her post, one user said: "In the case where neither parent is attached to the name, the child hates it and it's unusual enough to draw negative attention? Definitely."
Another user added: "I'd say in 99% of situations the kid is too young to make this decision. I'd also say this is the 1%." A third user said: "I would consider it. The name is causing him distress and he is already going by another name. Plus, he still has the connection back to his birth family with his middle name, if that becomes important for him in the future."
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