A baby’s name can be hard to decide and TikToker Haley Hodge knows that feeling all too well.
For some people, it’s a family name and for others, it’s just a name that you love. However, one TikTok content creator is thinking outside the box to find not only the perfect baby name but also a great origin story to share.
Pregnant TikToker Haley Hodge visits cemeteries to help her find the perfect name for her new baby, and some people aren’t on board with the idea.
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TikToker Gets Mixed Reactions About How She’s Choosing Her Baby’s Name
TikTok | Hodge House
The pregnant mom shared a video on TikTok explaining how she’s picking her new baby’s name and received all different types of reactions.
“When cemeteries hold the prettiest names, so you take the family to look for baby girl’s name,” she wrote on the video that shows her with her children walking around the cemetery reading all the names. The caption gave a little more insight, “Fun fact: My sister came from someone’s gravestone.”
Hodge’s video went viral with more than 2.5 million views and thousands of comments. The comment section was a mixed bag of positive thoughts and creepy warnings.
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“I wouldn’t go to a cemetery while pregnant, dangerous game you’re playing,” one person wrote. Another said, “I’ve heard that pregnancies attract ghosts. I feel like this is like picking up a ghost at the rescue shelter.”
And then there were the positive thoughts. Many people feel she’s doing something “beautiful.”
“Carrying a brand new soul through a garden of the past. What a clever way to find a beautiful name,” one person shared. 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.”
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Haley Hodge Shared Her Perspective
In a follow-up video, the pregnant mom shared some of her perspectives and how she views graveyards.
“My perspective on this: I don’t see graveyards as a place of death. I see it as a place of rest since they didn’t physically die right there,” she wrote on the video. “I see it as a place where visitors pay respect and remember a life (hopefully) well lived.”
The video shows Hodge and her kids walking around the cemetery with some upbeat music playing. The comments on this video were all positive.
“Every time we pass a cemetery I practically yell ‘baby names!’” one person wrote. Another said, “It’s the circle of life. I think it’s beautiful to reflect on lives that have passed before us.”
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The Pregnant Mom Defended Her Choice In Another Video
Hodge shared another video with more background defending her unique way of finding a baby name and explained she knew she would get some backlash.
“So I wanted to get on here and talk a little bit about the graveyard looking for a name video that went super big,” she said. “Was I expecting to get a little bit of attention because it is different and weird to some? Absolutely.”
She said she didn’t expect to have media outlets reach out to her for interviews so she wanted to share some more background on her choice.
“To people who see graveyards as being morbid and really bad or evil, different things, maybe it’s against your beliefs and that’s totally okay,” she said. “I just would recommend not going in there if that is your belief. To me, cemeteries are not so scary.”
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She said that as a child, she grew up in a family that enjoyed haunted tours and telling spooky ghost stories to help learn history. For Hodge, she said she views cemeteries as a “library of stories” because every person had their own life.
“I didn’t realize this was so weird, but apparently it’s so dang weird that it’s just being publicized everywhere,” she continued. “And I do truly apologize if it upset anybody. We just have different beliefs and that’s okay. That’s what makes life really interesting.”
Haley Hodge Expected Some Backlash Sharing Her Video
TikTok | Hodge House
Hodge told PEOPLE that she did expect some backlash due to different cultural beliefs around death.
“I just saw it as I’m going to the place where people’s grandparents are, their best friends, loved ones,” she said. “I don’t see it as a place of evil. These are people who lived lives and hopefully good lives and were good people.”
She also explained that she’s not bothered by spending time in the cemetery near the deceased.
“If there was something like souls out there, I don’t think they are confined just to a cemetery,” she said. “We have babies above a morgue at a hospital if you deliver at a hospital, so we’re kind of surrounded by it.”
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Haley Hodge Didn’t Choose Her Other Kids’ Names This Same Way
Hodge has three kids, daughter Finley, 10, and sons Crew, 3, and Banks, 1.
To choose their names, she told PEOPLE that she looked in more traditional places. But this time around, she hopes to give her daughter an interesting story about where her name came from. The TikTok video about how she’s choosing her baby’s name was to share this unique story with others.
“I wasn’t even going to post [the videos],” she said. “I was like, ‘You know what? This is kind of cool to share.’ I knew it was going to spark some attention, being different.”