'I didn't realize this mistake in my baby's name, and now it's too late'
People took to Reddit to share a trendy Bible-inspired name that is commonly misspelled by parents, despite the name regularly appearing on most-popular name lists.
Parents search for baby name inspiration from meaningful family monikers, pop culture, or maybe even the Bible.
While Biblical names tend to stay popular throughout the years, with names such as Benjamin, Christopher, Elizabeth, and Rebecca never going out of style, some parents over the years have decided to put their own twist on the classic names inspired by religious figures.
On Reddit, one user asked the thread to reveal the most “out there” spelling of a common baby name they had seen. In response, one person shared a trendy Biblical name that was accidentally misspelled by a few parents.
Someone wrote, “I know two separate people who have kids named Neveah, spelled ending in ‘ah’ and both say ‘it’s heaven backwards!” However, when you look closely, “Neveah” is a letter off from the correct spelling of heaven backwards.
Nevaeh is a popular girl’s name, which originated from when Sonny Sandoval, the lead member of the rock band P.O.D., named his daughter the unique moniker in 2000. Since then, it has skyrocketed in popularity. The name has stayed in the Social Security Administration’s top 1,000 baby name list since 2001, with its peak at #25 most popular baby name for girls in 2010.
It is still a name that parents go back to. In 2024, Nevaeh was #133 on the list of most popular baby names for girls, per the SSA. The SSA has no trace of the misspelled version of the name in its rolodex of popular baby names.
Nevaeh is a commonly misspelled name, according to Reddit
In response to this baby name spelling faux pax, a Redditor responded, saying, “Yep I know two of these and the whole reason they were named this is because of the ‘heaven backwards’ thing. I don’t think they realize Heaven isn’t spelled haeven.”
Another person commented, “How do I rename somebody else’s child?”
In agreement, someone else responded, “If you aren’t responsible enough to name a kid, you shouldn’t have a kid!”
A user admitted their confusion with the spelling, saying, “Omfg i just realized it’s not if it’s spelled like that… i feel so dumb LMAO.”
Unique baby names have been trending over the past few years as people start to stray from the names that have topped the charts for decades, such as Emma and Liam.
However, unique names start to get negative attention when they are deliberately misspelled, and it might even be worse if the parents unknowingly misspell their child’s name.
There is a Reddit thread called tragedeigh, which is dedicated to people sharing names they have heard that are completely made-up or misspelled on purpose. Overall, Redditors on this thread are not fans of the spelling mistakes because it takes names from being unique to just strange.