My wife is having serious anxiety over our daughter’s initials. She is 8 months old! It kind of came up because someone mentioned something and bang… serious anxiety and name remorse. With bullying being such a serious issue, please give us some honest insight.
Her first name is [name]Violet[/name] and our last name starts with a D. Okay, VD. We were so worried about finding the right name and all the other trials and tribulations involved with pregnancy and birth that we didn’t give initials much thought.
Are we over-thinking? My wife doesn’t believe that there can be over-thinking when it comes to our baby girl. We almost did not make this posting but in the end we decided that we really do want to know (for our daughter’s sake) what people think. We do use initials quite often in life, don’t we?
Does she have a middle name? If so, I wouldn’t worry about it. When initials are used it is almost always all three letters or the first name with the last name initial. [name]Violet[/name] D. is not something that would stick out to me in any unusual way.
Well, they aren’t the best initials out there, are they? But I really don’t think they are the worst, either. Most kids aren’t aware of the term VD these days as STD is the common terminology. So I don’t think bullying will be much of an issue. If anything, she will get a snicker here and there when she signs her initials, but she can always use all three initials if it embarrasses her. And monogramming won’t be a problem because, again, the middle name will break it up. I definitely don’t think it’s worth changing her name over at this point.
Oh no I’m sorry you’re having such anxiety over this!
This is just my opinion, but I don’t think it’s likely to be a problem. When I thought about it, I know people whose initials would work out to be VD but I have never thought about it. Most people won’t notice as long as you don’t make an issue of it. And children aren’t even likely to know what VD is, maybe teenagers, but by then her personality will be carved out and she’ll have friends etc, and I just don’t think it would be a big deal even in the unlikely case she did get teased for it. Like people always say, teenagers and children can always find something to pick on you for if they want, if it’s not your name/initials, it’ll be something else so don’t change a beautiful name that you love for that reason.
I can’t really think of many occassions when I’ve used my initials only. It’s usually my full name or my first initial and last name.
Does little [name]Violet[/name] have a middle name? Because if she did need to write out her whole initials, including he middle initial would solve the problem. V.P.D for example?
If not, maybe you could add a middle name now if it bothers you and your wife so much.
I think her name is lovely though and I hate when thoughtless people say things to make new parents worry unnecessarily!
I"m a former teacher and I can tell you stop worrying! Here’s why. VD (Venereal Disease) is pretty much an archaic term nowadays back from when we were health ed. The term is now STD. This is used in all public health health. Think about it, when is the last time you’ve seen the term VD? It is always STD. By the time she is in school, the kids will have never heard of it.
No worries.
Thank you all so much. [name]Little[/name] [name]Violet[/name] does have a middle name - it’s [name]Katherine[/name]. Mostly people love her name - it was just one silly comment!
I wouldn’t worry about it. I’m 26 years old, and I’ve never heard STDs refered to as VDs. When I read your post, I didn’t know what the problem was. They were refered to as STDs when I was in high school, and that was 8 years ago! So I don’t think she’ll have any problem.
I am in my 20’s and have never heard of VD so you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Most people have already said that everyone refers to them as STD’s now, and more and more often as STI’s. [name]Violet[/name] is lovely!
[name]Love[/name] the name! You and your wife do not need to worry- I definitely don’t think your daughter’s peers 10 years from now will ever pick up on the coincidence since kids today have never even heard of “VD”. Like emilylane, I didn’t even know what the teasing potential was after reading your first post and I’m 19. Also, I have a friend my age named [name]Victoria[/name] D. and she has never been teased for her name
mine spell gas.
initials aren’t the first thing people think about when you tell someone their name, so it’s okay. If i’ve rarely been teased over something that everyone my age knows the meaning of, little [name]Violet[/name] will be okay. It was cruel of that person to comment on your daughters name, they should’ve known that it was going to cause you anxiety and to be polite. Like how my neighbor has a son named [name]Jensen[/name] and I know a girl my age named [name]Jensen[/name], I knew not to say that and that person should’ve too. [name]Violet[/name]'s a beautiful name and I’m so sorry you had to go through this.
I think you are completely safe with [name]Violet[/name] D., VD, or [name]Violet[/name] [name]Katherine[/name] D., VKD. Beautiful name, by the way!
Honestly, I had no idea what VD stood for, and I’m twenty. I looked it up and found out what it stood for (venereal disease), and I’ve heard that term in my classes, but it is, as another poster said, an archaic term. I mean, even STD (sexually transmitted disease) is an outdated acronym at this point, considering STI (sexually transmitted infection) was introduced several years ago - most people still use STD, though, since it has been used for awhile.
The question is will the younger generation know the term, as you want to avoid bullying. I googled VD and found this info on wikipedia: Until the 1990s, STDs were commonly known as venereal diseases. So that is good news, the term VD was replaced in the 1990’s. If it helps at all, my husband has a bad first and last initial combo, and he never got teased, not once. The name [name]Violet[/name] is such a beautiful name that VD will most likely be the farthest association when a person looks at her name. As far as her signing her initials, try getting her used to signing VKD instead of VD. I hope I was able to help somewhat.
Oh, that’s so hard to have worries about the name after baby’s born! I love the name [name]Violet[/name]. I would be honest if I thought her initials were going to cause misery, because as a fretful parent myself, I’d rather KNOW than have people sugar coat it. But I really don’t think you’re going to have any major concerns here. Someone somewhere–probably someone older than her–may make the connection, it’s true–but as other posters have said, it is unlikely that it will cause teasing since the term is quite a dated one, especially for the younger generation (and that’s who would be doing the teasing). If you are just unable to stop worrying about it, but you don’t want to change her last name now that she probably knows it, you could always give your daughter a hyphenated last name (like wife’s maiden name–or last name if she didn’t change her name at marriage–hyphen your last name). That would in effect change her last initial. But I don’t think your little girl will run into problems with this so I’d try to banish your fears! I know it’s hard!
[name]Violet[/name] is a beautiful name and as many have pointed out VD is an outdated term. I knew what it meant only because my mother still uses the term (shes 55) but my boyfriend had no clue what it stood for. I doubt anyone will ever notice, or care to point in out. Tell your wife to stop worrying. [name]Violet[/name] [name]Katherine[/name] is a beautiful name.
We had someone in our family (an old aunt) whose name was [name]Violet[/name] and surname started with D, her nn was Violie but I have never heard that there was a problem at all.
And as a previous poster said STD seems to be the buzz ‘word’ now.
[name]Lovely[/name] name and, as always, wise and kind comments from all the berries! So interesting to learn that younger people have no clue what VD means. As long as you don’t name your next child [name]Sarah[/name] [name]Teresa[/name], all will be well.
