A mum who picked an unusual name for her son said she considered changing it because of relentless nasty comments from trolls.
Stacey Flinn, from Darlington, says she has been picked on by strangers who have told her she is a 'bad parent' because of her son's unusual moniker.
Stacey and husband Paul welcomed their son nine years ago. The couple decided to name him after a sweet nickname Paul had for his wife.
But they say when they told people the child's name, they reacted badly and said he would get bullied at school.
The mum-of-one said: "My husband's pet name for me was 'Stacey Bear', so when we had our son nine years ago, we decided to call him Bear.
"Some of our friends questioned it at first, saying 'That's an animal name, why would you do that to him?' and 'he's not going to get a job, they'll throw his CV away'.
"When I returned to work after my maternity leave, I had a few comments from people who weren't my direct colleagues, saying ‘Oh God what an unusual name, aren’t you worried he’ll get bullied at school?’. It all built up and I started to panic, thinking we'd made the wrong choice."
The comments left the 39-year-old considering changing Bear's name when he was just a few months old but she went on the Mumsnet forum for advice - only to be trolled and called a bad mum, reports The Mirror.
She said: "A lot of people were saying ‘he’ll never get a job’, ‘you’re setting him up to fail’, ‘what an evil thing to do’ or ‘you’re a really bad parent’. It can completely dissolve your world, you think you’re doing the worst thing for your child. When ultimately it is just a name, it doesn’t define him."
But Paul, 40, stood firm on the name and managed to convince Stacey to stick with it and now the couple say they "don't care" what others think about their son's name.
And since Stacey named her son Bear nine years ago, the name has gained popularity after Cheryl and Liam Payne chose the name for their son in 2017.
Now, Stacey says she often gets asked if she took inspiration from the former couple - even though her son is five years older than Bear Grey Payne.
Thankfully Stacey's son has never been bullied over his unusual name.
The mum explained: "A name doesn’t define a person, so if you want to call your child Tree or Apple or anything then go ahead, as long as it makes you happy.
"Especially if it means something to you. As much as it sounds silly, Bear means something to me and my husband, it wasn’t something random. And it's still a proper name, it was just something considered a bit different at the time."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here.
