Dear Jennifer,

My husband and I are having our first baby soon and we were looking for a nice, but unique name to name her.  After some thought we’re torn and a bit concerned, we want to name her Cherry but I am afraid that she will be teased.  Do you think she will be teased at school?  I haven’t spoken to any other family members other than my mom and she said no.  Should I listen to my mom and pick another name or go with our guts? This keeps me up at night.

Sincerely,

Yoto K.

Dear Yoto,cherry

Don’t do it. Aside from the fact that Cherry is a slang term for the female sex organ, it also is a diminutive name, which I don’t advise giving to baby girls. Those I have loosely surveyed about the name come back with “stripper name.”

The fact that it keeps you up at night should be a clue: DON’T DO IT. Go back to name storming; I will be happy to review the other names you come up with.

Sincerely,

Jennifer

Jennifer Moss (she/her) is the founder of BabyNames.com, author of The Baby Names Workbook, and Producer of The Baby Names Podcast. Jennifer is widely regarded as the leading expert on popular baby name trends and the naming process, serving as the authoritative source on the subject for national and international media.

Jennifer entered the tech arena in the 80s as a software developer and database architect, and became a pioneer in the Internet industry. In addition to operating BabyNames.com, Jennifer owns a web development agency in central California.