'I gave my son a classic name but people look at me like I have two heads when I share it'

A mum has expressed her confusion by the reaction she often gets to her son’s traditional name.

It’s not always easy for - after all, it’s something they’ll carry with them for life and it could lead to some unfortunate snap judgments if you don’t choose something suitable from infancy to adulthood.

One mum thought she’d nailed this potentially tricky task by opting for something she felt was “a solidly classic name with no ill connotations” but certain family members have been perplexed by the choice. In her experience, it’s older generations who aren’t particularly enthralled with her and her husband’s decision to Laurence.

to vent her frustrations, the mum said: “After he was born, my in-laws said to my husband, ‘Are you sure that’s what you want to name him?’”

She continued: “For reference, for some reason they had in their head he would be named Gunnar, which we’d never choose in a million years. Hours later when I came home with him, they said, ‘so… did you decide on a name or…?’ and were all about it. Same day, our neighbour said, ‘yeah, but you’re not going to call him that, right?’ What?!

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“It’s been over a year and I feel like every 60+ person we meet looks at us like we have two heads when we say his name. 99% of the time they think I’m saying Lauren so I have to repeat myself.”

The mum explained she and her husband tend to nickname their son Laurie, which she can understand being seen as “somewhat odd” since, in the United States where she’s based, “that’s traditionally a girls name”.

The mum said “boomers” seem most “confused” by his full name, Laurence. On her son’s recent birthday, her mother-in-law made a comment telling her mum she “still couldn’t believe” they’d named him Laurence. She added: “I’m not offended, just very confused! Am I missing something?!”

Hundreds of fellow Reddit users flocked to the comments section to share their thoughts. One person said: “I think to that generation, it may be the equivalent to a millennial naming their child Betty, Helen or Nancy. It's just old fashioned!”

Another said: “I think it’s more like the boomer equivalent of naming a baby Kevin.” A third agreed and penned: “This is it. My mom felt the same way about my daughter’s name (Alice). She insisted it was an “old lady name”, but it seems fresh and timeless to me”.

Offering insight, one person said: “Speaking as one of ‘that generation’, you are 100% correct. To me it does sound like a great uncle's name or something of that age. Don't take offence though, when you get to our age remember this discussion when you hear the latest babies names and think to yourself ‘omg why?’ You'll know exactly what I mean.”

Another quipped: “[I don’t know], old people are weird sometimes. Laurence is a nice name and Laurie is a cute nickname.”