When Adorable Child was 7, she decided she wanted to change her name to Cynthia.
No… we didn’t know anyone with that name. No… it’s not a family name. It just popped out there one day.
She started writing her name as Cynthia on her school papers, and asked everyone to call her by her new name. Her teachers did. Her friends did. Polimom did not (although Dear Husband indulged her one day with a shirt monogrammed with a “C”).
And within six months, the phase had passed.
So this story really made me laugh.
Compared to everything else there is to worry about, Mom and Dad, this isn’t worth losing sleep over — particularly as little Jill or Jack won’t like the name you pick, no matter what it is.
Relax.
Interesting… in about the 2nd or 3rd grade, I decided I wanted to go by my middle name. No one was willing to cooperate, and so after a week or two I gave up and went back to my regular name.
~”Dave”
LOL!!! Evidently your “group” wasn’t nearly as accommodating as the one in which AC moved. Sounds like it struck around the same age though. Clearly a developmental milestone was reached.
My daughter did the very same thing, except her “phase” lasted for several years! It bothered my husband & me some of the time, and the rest of the time we kept thinking that it would shortly go away. Sometimes we even thought it was funny.
It wasn’t until years later that (I guess!?) she discovered/decided that her name had been uniquely chosen for her by us. (Also, I think, she began receiving some positive comments from those whose opinions mattered to her.)