As baby names continue to get as unique as the personalities they represent, one mother has started a conversation on social media with her baby’s name choice.
Sydney-based influencer Indy Clinton, 25, says choosing to name her newborn daughter after a Disney character was an easy decision.
Indy is known for her fitness and lifestyle content, which she shares with the 600,000 followers on TikTok and Instagram, and her unconventional style continues even with baby names.
The name Indy’s daughter, who is now 4 months old, was previously going to be Paloma, which means “dove” in Spanish.
It was one night, however, reading “Bambi” to her two year old son Navy that it happened.
Indy, who admitted she sat up and yelled, ‘What about Bambi?’ from then on, it stuck, and said her daughter had a ‘sweet, curious nature’ and ‘big brown eyes’ to remind her of the beloved Disney character.
A mother named Indy never imagined her daughter’s name would be the subject of online debate, let alone for comparisons to another influencer.
Indy’s excitement over the name was rising when she realised Molly-Mae Hague, a popular UK reality star, had also named her daughter Bambi.
Indy said: “I couldn’t believe the coincidence, good on Molly Mae though, looks like great minds think alike.”
The name Bambi, many would now say, reads like a fairy tale name, and nothing more: Fit for childhood nostalgia, whimsical, and seen as such by many (and critics), the name quickly jumped on the trending topic bandwagon.
So the mixed reactions didn’t deter Indy, who quipped, “People will criticize anything these days, so at least give them something to talk about.”
Unique names are a trend, she said, noting that Bambi will fit right in with the Rivers, Bears, Forests, Stormis and Wolfs.
The name is a nod to Indy’s lifelong connection to ‘Bambi,’ a story she loved as a child, and then passed along to her son.
The character is a male deer, but Indy felt that the name fit her daughter’s personality.
“She’s such a little Bambi, big brown eyes, long legs,” she says, “She couldn’t be a Paloma now – she’s my Bambilicious.”
Indy was supported and criticised on social media.
Her creativity was praised to some, and others poked fun at what her daughter’s name would be called as she aged.
One fan defended the idea of a name like that, saying: ‘A unique name is not something to be embarrassed about’ while another suggested that having a Disney character as a name could potentially make things difficult when you get older.
However, Indy doesn’t seem to care about the controversy.
“People need to shut it. A supportive follower commented: ‘She can name her baby anything she wants.’
So others congratulated her saying “It’s a wonderful name for your baby,” and, “So happy, love the name.”
Indy goes with love and sentiment.
To finally address the mixed opinions that were floating about her choice, she said, and said it with confidence, “I don’t care if people hate it.”
