Is Reeva ok to use?

[fairyteepee]

Me and my husband love this name if we are having a girl BUT im worried everyone will immediately think of Reeva Steenkamp? I know she seemed like a lovely person and theres nothing negative surrounding her as a person. But the circumstances surrounding the name are very sad.
Would you still use it?

[fairyteepee]

I am due next march. reeva is my DH's great nans middle name BUT it is spelt Riva but i was thinking people would assume pronunciation River?

[badtime]

When I saw the thread title, my first thought was that 'Riva' would be better.

I think it is well-known enough that people won't say 'river'. The worst thing I can think of with 'Riva' is the potential for Lada jokes from old people.

[Hakluyt]

Some people appear to have no imagination. Must be very strange living like that....,,,,,

[CherryPie3]

I know I little girl called Reva, she is 7 and her parents are from Latvia. Would this spelling be an ok alternative? Fwiw all her teachers used to write her name as 'Riva', then have to change it. I did it once in a birthday card!

It's not to my personal taste but of you love the name then use it :)

[Only1scoop]

Are you still thinking of Link for a boy?

Reeva is a gorgeous name but I also link it with the tragedy of death of beautiful Reeva Steinkamp.

Although its because its very current I guess.

Is it a name you have always loved?

[ChasedByBees]

Reeva is such an unusual name that it can only be connected to Reeva S at the moment. That's not the case for other names like Oscar, Jamie etc which have many other associations.

If Riva was the family name then use that, but don't spell it Reeva. Everyone will think of the murder case now and your DD will think she's named after a murder victim. Give your DD the nicest name you can - as well as sound that includes history and meaning.

[fairyteepee]

Yeah it was on our list since baby number one well before reeva steenkamp was sadly killed.

[Sootgremlin]

Ok, having seen update, I revise my opinion slightly.

I would see the spelling Riva as making it different enough perhaps, and with a family connection to explain your use of it then I think it might be ok. The timing is unfortunate though still. What about as a middle name? It would make a lovely unusual middle name, being a short name beginning with R that's not Rose!

[KillashandraRee]

It's not a made up name my amazing consultant who's looking after DS2 is called Reeva, and it NEVER occurred to me to link to the Pistorius trial even though I've followed it on and off.

If you love it go for it

[OutragedFromLeeds]

The comparisons with Holly, Jessica, Oscar and Jamie are pointless. Those are all very common names and so the association between the name and any one person is weakened. Reeva is an unusual name and so the majority of people will connect it to Reeva Steenkamp.

I doubt anyone thinks 'Stalin' when they meet a Joseph, but what would be your first thought when I introduce my new son Adolf?

[Ludways]

Massive difference between adolf hitler and reeva steenkamp, I'm sure her family would appreciate the comparison ffs!

Adolf, visions of death camps and mass murder

Reeva, visions of a beautiful girl inside and out, sad connotations but lovely all the same

I think it's ok to use, tbh I wouldn't even have thought about the link other than a passing notion, which will stop even a year from now.

[fairyteepee]

Thanks for everyones opinions. If it was the name of a murderer or equal to, i would definitely refrain. but as another poster has said this is the name of a beautiful girl, innocent but surrounded by tragic circumstances.

I will give it a long hard think, i may just wait and see how much to the forefront the reeva steenkamp association is in 6 months time when baby arrives; will definitely be changing the spelling if do use it though.

[GobblersKnob]

I think it's a lovely name, if I met someone today who had just called their newborn Reeva I wouldn't think, murder victim, I would just think pretty and unusual name.

It's just occurred to me that someone in our family shares the name Oscar and I've never made that connection before.

[OutragedFromLeeds]

I thought this was clear, but obviously not....I'm not comparing Reeva Steenkamp to Hitler! I'm comparing Hitler to Stalin, reasonably similar; one name is fine, one name not. It's the same with victims; Jamie/Madeline/Holly/Jessica fine, Reeva maybe less so.

The issue is how strongly a name can be tied to one specific person. The more common the name, the weaker the association. Unusual name = stronger associations.

[SignYourNameInBrownAndFlame]

I made the same point Outraged, but there will always be some people determined to be deliberately obtuse.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

People will make the connection between your Reeva and Reeva Steencamp, if you're ok with that then use it.

It is a love name.

[GiveTwoSheets]

It's a lovely name and I would not see it as association to RS unless you have some connection to the family of RS.

[MerryMarigold]

I wouldn't - just because it is unusual and will therefore be associated with Reeva Steenkamp. It's not like Madeleine.

(Although I wanted to call ds1 Madeleine, then by the time dd came along, Madeleine McCann had gone missing so I didn't call dd Madeleine).

[Mammanat222]

My son is a James and of course people don't automatically think of James Bulge BUT James is a common name.

Reeva isn't and therein lies the difference for me.

[WooWooOwl]

I think it's fine to use and I'm surprised that anyone thinks it's in bad taste. It's a just a name, that probably already belongs to lots of other lovely girls that don't have Steenkamp as a surname.

Your baby isn't due until March, your child peers are still in utero, by the time your child is even capable of recognising her own name the Oscar trial will be done, dusted, and forgotten by anyone who wasn't involved.

Adults now might make a connection to Reeva Steenkamp, but as the name would belong to your dd as much as it did to her, it would be a very brief and fleeting thought, and the people your dd is going to be friends with, go to school with, work with will probably never know anything about another Reeva who was killed.

And I don't think you have any need to change the spelling, but if you do I think Rieva is nicer than Riva, which just looks like Viva, which then makes me think Las Vegas.

[mrssmith79]

If you can ride out the initial comments after baby is born I'd imagine it'd quickly become a non issue. What about Reba? One of my fave country singers.

[TryingNotToLaugh]

Other reasons not to use it:

Reeva the beaver
Reeva the Diva

(Possible secondary school nicknames)

[singersgirl]

The only association I have with the name Reeva is RS. I'd never heard the name before, I've never met anyone called Reeva and I've never read about anyone else called Reeva. It may be a common name in South Africa for all I know, but it's very unusual here. So people inevitably would associate it with this case. James/Oscar/Madeleine/Holly are all popular and commonly used names, so the comparison is pointless.

A reiver is a thief, pirate, plunderer, by the way, so the associations of the name spelt with the double E are fairly negative for me anyway - I think it's quite ugly and in English looks like a misspelling. The spelling Riva is better as I immediately think of the Italian word meaning 'bank' or 'shore' (though I still don't really think of it as a girl's name).

[flipchart]

I would if I was pregnant and liked that name.

Your baby isn't due to next March by then the news would have long moved on.
The name isn't copyrighted or anything, it's not in bad taste.
I really don't get why it is an issue. Maybe if you were due to give birth tonight I could understand your concern but otherwise no.