Influencer Tammy Hembrow shares the long list of baby names she didn’t use
“I wanted to call my baby that but my whole family was like, ‘Please god no.’”
Naming a baby is a tough task for parents. Not only do you and your partner need to find a name that you both love but it also needs to be one that you won’t regret down the track.
When deciding on a moniker for your little one, many of us will write out a list of names we like and then whittle it down until we are left with a stand-out winner.
Gold Coast influencer Tammy Hembrow is known for choosing unique names. The 29yo shares one-year-old daughter Posy with her ex-fiance Matt Poole and she has two children, 7yo Saskia and 8yo Wolf, with her former partner, Reece Hawkins.
In a recent TikTok, which has been viewed more than 1.4 million times, Tammy revealed the baby names that made it onto her list but that she didn’t end up using.
“I was going through my phone last night and I saw my old baby names list. I thought why am I gatekeeping these? Why not share these,” she told her followers.
“I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote these down. It’s going to suck if I post these and then one day I’m going to have another child and I’ll want these names — but here we go.”
Tammy first revealed the name she almost called her eldest daughter.
“This is what I almost named Saskia, I actually love this name so much, I still love it so much — Sailor,” she says. “I love that name. I’ve always loved it. I just think it’s really cute.”
The second name of the list is Hecule which Tammy pronounces ‘Her-kewl’.
“Like Hercules, but Hercule,” she says. “I liked that for a while and I still think it’s kind of cute but I probably wouldn’t use it.”
Next up is Ezekiel, which Tammy said she would shorten to “Zeke” and Leonidas.
“This one I think is really cute, Leonidas. Little Leo.”
A gender-neutral name the fitness influencer loves is, “Sunny for a girl or boy. I think it is so cute.”
Some girl names that were high on her list were Rumor, Sookie and Love..
“Rumor. I’ve loved this name ever since I first heard it,” she says.
A fan of the TV show, True Blood, Tammy was inspired by the fictional character, Sookie Stackhouse.
“I like saying Sookie. I used to love that show and it just made me be obsessed with that name.”
However, not all television shows provided the same inspiration. The psychological thriller, You turned Tammy off the name, Love.
“Ever since the show, You, I cannot not think of that girl anymore, so that’s an immediate no.”
“Next one, Cleo. That’s a no, it’s off the list,” she says.
Other names which Tammy says she would strike off her list are Violet, Mercy, Honor and possibly Coco.
“Violet. I don’t really love that anymore it’s not doing it for me anymore. I used to love that name.”
She continues: “I don’t really like Honor anymore, (it’s) like ‘Your honor’. Can’t say I love that name anymore.”
“I can’t say I like Mercy either,” she says, before adding, “Mercy is kind of cool for a little girl.”
“Coco. I don’t know how I feel about that one either. Sounds kinda like a dog or puppy would be called Coco but I still think it’s cute, like a little girl called Coco.”
While pregnant with her third child, daughter Posy, Tammy says there was one name that was a strong contender.
“I actually wanted to use this name when I was pregnant with Posy. This was literally the top of my list,” she laughs.
“The nickname would be like Jupey… Little Jupe. I actually loved Jupiter and I wanted to call my baby that but my whole family was like, ‘Please god no.’ Can’t say I love that one anymore.”
She says she was also keen on the name, Klaus after watching “too much Vampire Diaries“.
Tammy rattles off some more names, including Roman, Alexi, Dimitri and Olive which she still considers “cute”.
“I love this one for a girl but my sister’s dog has this name which has put me off but I think Olive is cute.”
Another couple of names that Tammy would’ve regretted if she’d picked, are Phoenix and Hazel.
“I don’t like this name anymore only because I see it everywhere – Phoenix is not my fave anymore,” she says.
“Hazel. I just hate this name now. I’m sorry if your name is Hazel. I used to love that name. It would be cute if you called her Hazelnuts as a nickname,” she laughs.
With Tammy giggling through the TikTok at some of her own baby name picks, the comments section was also filled with people joking about her name choices.
“I’m wheezing at Hercule,” one fan wrote.
Another joked: “You can’t convince me there isn’t a disease called Leonidas.”
“Love Sailor. Leonidas sounds like a ‘condition’,” another added.
“My daughter’s name is Jupiter & we call her Juju♥️,” commented another.
“Do people realise these babies will be 40 year olds one day,” pointed out another fan.
Late last year Tammy confirmed she and Matt Poole had split up just seven months after welcoming their first child, Posy.
In December 2023, three months after confirming their romance, Love Island Australia’s Matt Zukowski, 28 proposed to Tammy while the pair were on a romantic Maldives getaway.
