Anybody got a daughter called Alexa

[Chriss82]

I know I asked this before Christmas but we are getting more pressure about this. Our daughter is called Alexa before the amazon thing came our and we were thinking about changing her name for obvious reasons but we stayed firm with it as it is. However we have come under pressure from other parents and friends to consider changing it, which if we had to it would be Alexandra as its close to what it is now. We have even been called cruel for not doing it! We have had one parent apologise for the way her son might speak to our daughter as he is very rude to Alexa at home....Has this world gone mad?? Our daughter will be 3 in a few weeks and this is causing us so much worry at home as the next years are crucial to her finding her identity.

Has anyone with a daughter called Alexa really finding it so much of an issue? So sorry to ask again but if we have to act it will have to be soon, thanks again.

I know a 7 year old Alexa - lovely child and no issues with bullying

Some parents allow their kids to bully are bullies themselves

I think Alexa is a lovely name. I do know one - a teenager now - and she's had no problems. Is the Alexa device really that prevalent that primary school kids know about it? I've never come across it in real life, just on telly.

I know a 7 year old Alexa - lovely child and no issues with bullying

Some parents allow their kids to bully are bullies themselves

No, but we have friends with an Elsa who is just older than Frozen. When she and our DS were about 2 or 3 everyone thought they had chosen the name from the film (and I think there was a bit of eye rolling), but now they are both 7, it's waning.
It will pass! The next thing will be called something else and Alexa will remain a lovely name.

@Cbeebiesrehab I appreciate brutally honest opinions because 3 years ago when we were selecting our DD's name, Alexa was seen as her name, nothing more or less, we could say her name with no comments or association. 3 years on, our new tv says wants us to use Alexa to control it, a little holiday cottage we regularly go to in Devon now what's us to shout her name to control the heating on our next visit, friends of ours are looking at new car which apparently has Alexa fitted in there as their electronic friend, not to mention all the people we know shouting Alexa at the little devices. So yes it does feel that Alexa is taking over the world based upon what we are seeing in our little world. Hearing so many children in her dance class and nursery (her generation) and their parents comfortably accepting this technology and telling us why would you want your daughter with this association and us getting fed up defending her name. Our comeback is 'you can't protect kids from everything in the world and they will be bullied for something' but the amount of people for months now telling us is making us think are we wrong to stand by our name choice. Yes the bullying is one concern but not our many worry it's the manner in which you command this Alexa and the way you engage with it that we don't like and as said had parents apologise to us if their kid speaks the same to our daughter. It feels like this world has gone crazy and common sense has disappeared. This is not like Henry hoover, Thomas the tank engine and every other name associated thing, you don't command them and say the name every time you want it to do something for you.

Look where this has come from in a matter of years and if only we had a crystal ball to see where this will be in a matter of years but we only want to do what's best for our little girl, just like every other parent.

Your new tv 'wants you' to use Alexa?

I bought a new TV this year, there is no obligation to set up any functions that you don't want!

And I don't know what circles you move in, but hardly anyone I know has an Alexa. It is really not the norm to walk into people's houses and hear them shouting Alexa.

It's incredibly cruel to change a 3 year olds name because of a bit of technology, whoever is telling you to do so is an idiot.

As an Alexa myself I like the amazon echo, at least I don't have to spell my name for everyone now!

Btw Amazon Alexa was first released in November 2014

I think whats more cruel is changing a 3 year olds name than the way people speak to an electronic device..

You seem to be the only person with the issue with the name, its almost as if you have some strange hatred for the electronic device not her name..

Could you casually introduce a nickname instead of changing it? Like Lexie. Tbh if she is bothered by it she will choose a NN herself when older anyway.

I don't know why you have bothered posting on here - you clearly have already made up your mind that you must change it.

Many people grow up with names associated to other things - animals, celebrities, toys, and it's up to us as parents to make sure our children don't laugh at those people for it.

I think it is a real shame as Alexa is a lovey name that she knows to be hers.

This is one of the strangest threads I have ever read!
I'd recommend Google home....much better than Alexa, and you're unlikely to meet anyone called OKGoogle.

Some friends of ours have a 12yr old called Alexa. She was teased mercilessly at school - Alexa, what’s the capital of France etc, by several boys in her class. All in jest but very annoying. The family are now calling her Lexie and have insisted all her school records are changed too. So yes it can go pear shaped. The family were very worried about it.

I have a 3.11 year old son and he and a lot of his friends are very well versed with Alexa and saavy with using her to play music, tell the time, the weather and ask general knowledge questions. It is definetely ubiquitous in our part of London and in their generation. That said, he has an Alexa in his nursery class and there has been no issues. He is able to understand that the Alexa in his class is a friend, a person with feelings, unlike his robotic devise at home. It's really not that difficult and you have to stand your ground and teach her to stand hers.

Please don't think we want to change our daughters name, this is why we are asking on here if anyone else has had the same experiences that we have been getting the past few months. I have had several private messages where people have said do it and it seems so wrong on every level this is why we asked again on here as we can't bring ourselves to do it as it feels so so wrong.

@WoahMumma yes it was released in 2014 in USA but in uk September 2016 our daughter was born in the February 2016 we did research the first but we don't recall reading anything about this or if it did maybe we just didn't understand what is was or that people would want it.

My dd has been known as a shortened name pretty much since birth. (Say Libby short for Elizabeth.)

When filling out school forms etc I always write

Elizabeth (Libby) Smith

As her name.

As a result she is Libby on registers, class lists etc.

I mentioned something recently about her being Elizabeth and other parents were really surprised as they had no idea.

So in your situation I’d shorten Alexa to Alex, Lexie or Ally, use that on all forms and then wait for the technology to become obsolete. I reckon it’ll be less than 5 years.

Ps I also know a Siri. That is more problematic as you can’t shorten it.

The responses you have said make it sound like posting on here was irrelevant and you've already made your decision and going to change it any way???

My niece is Alexis. She's called Lexie more often than not. She's 6 now and finds it hilarious that Alexa often pipes up when we say her name "I don't know that one" no Alexa, I want Lexie to tidy her Lego, not you 🙄

Don't change your daughter's name, it's beautiful. Tell people to sod off, it's your choice.

Even if you decided to change it, though, I don't think you can without it affecting her. My 2.9 yo knows his name to the point that if I say "Harry, you're the leader/driver/zookeeper" in a game we're playing he says "no mummy, I Harry!" You can't change her name now without confusing her. Much easier to change it or use a nickname when she's older and can understand why. She'll be more likely to be upset by it changing now than by other kids using it to pretend she's a robot.

And what an excellent learning opportunity for any bratty kids who talk to robotic devices like a little lord of the manor to be reminded that you don't do that to other people.

While I don't see the problem, as I don't know anyone with the device and have never seen/used one (I'm in my early 30s, fwiw), presumably you and your friends are in some kind of social scene where it's a big deal. So, no, I still wouldn't change her name on her bc, but as it's distressing you, you could always gradually move to a nickname? Say, use Lexa occasionally, leading to Lexie. Or Allie-Alexa, leading to simply Allie.

Honestly though, I would reassess some of your social group as I can't get over how many rude, interfering people you know. If a bunch of friends and relatives kept insisting that I should change my child's name because of their preference, I'd be telling them to do one.

Also, I've heard that you can change the device's name, so definitely do that at home.

If you’re that insistent on it being an issue then just call her Alex or Lexi as many people have suggested. Changing her name to Alexandra she will inevitably end up being called Alex anyway so don’t bother going through the hassle. Then when Alexa is a nonentity in a few years (which it will be because that’s the way technology works!) you won’t have changed your daughters name for absolutely no reason. It’s seems you’ve made up your mind anyway as you don’t seem interested in the five pages worth of comments telling you it’s not a big deal.

Who cares about some stupid Alexa thing having the same name as your daughter. Even if you do change it to something like Alexandra, there’s no guarantee there won’t be something equally popular name “Alexandra” in the future. You can’t go changing your kid’s name every time some character comes along with the same name.

Besides, there are plenty of options for nicknames like Alex, Lex or Lexi.

People who tell you to change her name are morons and you should avoid them where possible.

It’s not like you called your kid Adolf for something. It’s not offensive or rude. In a few years Alexa will be replaced with something else and no one will even remember it anyway.

This is bonkers.

Get them to change the names of their Alexas to something else!! This is very easily done!