Mother reveals she went to cemetery for inspiration for her baby’s name

‘When cemeteries hold the prettiest names, so you take the family to look for baby girl’s name,’ mother writes on TikTok

(@hodgehouse / TikTok)

A woman has revealed how she went to a cemetery to get inspiration for her unborn baby’s name.

Haley, who goes by the username @hodgehouse and who is currently pregnant, shared a recent video to TikTok of her visit to the cemetery. In the text over the footage, she described why she felt like the location was a good spot for picking a baby name.

“When cemeteries hold the prettiest names, so you take the family to look for baby girl’s name,” Haley, who’s already the mother of three children, wrote.

She went on to walk through the cemetery, while she read off different names on tombstones, including James and Julian. Her daughter was also captured in the clip, as she read off the name Ella on a tombstone.

After another gravestone showed the name Galloway, the video continued with Haley’s son and daughter walking through the cemetery. She then showed two tables that were in the outdoor space and explained why they had a special meaning.

“Did you know families used to come to cemeteries to have a picnic with their loved ones?” she wrote. “These are even made to be a table.”

Haley’s video concluded with her family reading even more names off the gravestones, including Salem, Winnie, Vienna, Olympus, and a nickname, “Bunny.”

In the caption, Haley also shared that her sister’s name “came from someone’s gravestone”.

The video has quickly gone on TikTok, with more than 2m views, as of May 21. In the comments, many viewers went on to praise Haley’s approach to finding a baby name, noting that choosing one of the names on the tombstone could help honor those who’ve passed away.

“Carrying a brand new soul through a garden of the past. What a clever way to find a beautiful name,” one wrote.

“It keeps them alive, you saying their names,” another added.

“How beautiful must it be for some of these souls to hear their name spoken again after so many years. I hope you have an incredible pregnancy and a healthy baby,” a third wrote.

While many people acknowledged how “lovely” they thought the names on the gravestones were, others disagreed. Some claimed that it wasn’t appropriate to go to a cemetery to pick the right baby name.

“Looking for names among the dead is wild. What happened to Google?” one wrote, while another claimed: “What a strange idea.”

In a follow up video, Haley defended herself from criticism, responding to a viewer who claimed that they “couldn’t walk into a place of death when [they’re] creating a new life”. As the mother shared another video of her and her family in the cemetery, she clarified why it felt like the best spot for deciding on a baby name.

“My perspective on this: I don’t see graveyards as a place of death,” she wrote. “I see it as a place of rest, since they didn’t physically die right there. I see it as a place where visitors pay respect and remember a life (hopefully) well lived.”

The Independent has contacted Haley for comment.