Mum chooses to name baby after coronavirus lockdown: 'For us it was a good time'
Watch: Mum has 'no regrets' after naming her baby after the coronavirus lockdown
A mum who named her baby after the coronavirus pandemic has gone public with why she chose to do so.
Jodi Cross, 36, a hairdresser from Wixams, Bedfordshire, fell pregnant with her first daughter during the second COVID-19 lockdown, in 2021, after a year of trying to start a family.
Cross and her husband, Rob, 36, an electrical business director, opted for a unique moniker for their newborn - to mark the period that brought them their daughter.
Their baby girl arrived on 28th November 2021 at 5:28am, weighing 5lbs 2oz, and the couple decided to name her Lockie - "after lockdown".
The new mum says she credits the coronavirus lockdowns for the reason the couple were finally able to conceive, explaining that they had more time to spend together and try for a baby due to being on furlough.
Read more: Most popular baby names of 2021 revealed - and there's a change at the top
While the pandemic was a difficult period for some, Ms Cross says lockdown was actually a "really good time" in their lives and they wanted to reflect that in Lockie's name.
"We know lots of people didn't enjoy lockdown but for us, it was a good time," she explains.
"We had been trying for a year to get pregnant," she continues. "Lockdown meant I was furloughed and Rob was working less.
"I think we just relaxed a bit because we had so much more time than we normally would, and then we found out I was pregnant."
When their daughter was born, cases of the latest strain of COVID, Omicron, were starting to rise so the couple knew she would be a lockdown baby.
"So we named her Lockie for lockdown," Cross explains. "We really liked the name, and lockdown had been a good time in our lives."
The couple had been dating for a few months when the country were plunged into the first coronavirus lockdown in March 2020.
At the time, they were living separately, so Mr Cross, who has one child from a previous relationship, moved into Ms Cross' flat.
They decided to begin trying for a baby, but had no luck for a year.
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It was only when they began to assume it wasn't going to happen and started focussing on work that they found out they'd conceived.
"I ended up taking over a little salon during lockdown because I had been on furlough a long time," Ms Cross explains.
"By this point we had been trying for a year and thought pregnancy wasn't going to happen so I started to focus on work instead.
"A week later I found out I was pregnant."
The couple were overjoyed to be expecting a baby and decided to cement their relationship by getting married in secret when Ms Cross was seven months pregnant, in October 2021.
The following month, their first child together was born, with the couple opting to reflect the lockdowns of her conception and birth in their name choice.
Read more: The most popular baby names of 2022 (so far)
Though they understand the pick might surprise people, the family say they have "no regrets" about their daughter's moniker.
"We named her after a good time, not a bad one," she explains.
"You never know, other people might hear our story now - and next year it might be the most popular baby name."
Additional reporting SWNS.
