‘Strangers say my baby name sounds like a disease – but it has meaning’

A teenage mom has hit back at trolls who claim her daughter’s name sounds like a disease by sharing the true meaning of the moniker.

Despite the backlash, 18-year-old Bella Davis and her boyfriend Reason Robison are adamant they made the right choice in calling their daughter Polaris.

Online haters have drawn comparisons between the outlandish moniker – pronounced pol-air-is – and car manufacturers, but the pair are choosing to bat a blind eye to trolls.

The name has meaning to Reason and Bella because it reflects the couples’ love of astronomy and star-gazing, which they enjoyed on several of their dates.

Polaris is also the name given to the Northern state, which Reason pointed out to Bella moments before asking her to be his girlfriend.

“I’ve had a lot of people online who don’t like it as well,” explained Bella. “A lot of the comments are saying she’d be bullied in school for her name and that it’s ugly.

“I’ve just stopped reading the comments now because they’re too hateful. I don’t really care but it’s also not very nice to hear at the same time.”

Bella said she received a lot of criticism from family members too, but they eventually warmed to the name after the tot was born.

The stay-at-home mother, from Salt Lake City, Utah, US, explained: “When we told our friends and family almost everyone didn’t like it.

“A lot of people thought of the car manufacturing company, Polaris Inc, who sell all-terrain vehicles.”