Two Babies Born Under Lockdown Were Just Named After The Coronavirus

Once 2020 comes to an end, there are words we'll never want to hear again. Like COVID-19. Or coronavirus.

But one Indian mother who gave birth to twins during the country's lockdown apparently felt a bit differently, and opted to call her new babies Covid (son) and Corona (daughter) to remind them of the challenges they faced as they were trying to get to a hospital. Preeti Verma says she went into labor late at night, and despite a countrywide lockdown across India, her husband had managed to get an ambulance. (The BBC reports that India was given less than four hours' notice before a three week coronavirus lockdown was imposed.)  Verma says her ambulance was stopped by police at different places, but had waved them on after they saw that she was pregnant (via NDTV).

The twins' mother has her reasons for thinking that naming her children Covid and Corona is a good idea. "The delivery happened after facing several difficulties and therefore, my husband and I wanted to make the day memorable. Indeed the virus is dangerous and life-threatening but its outbreak made people focus on sanitation, hygiene and inculcate other good habits. Thus, we thought about these names," Verma told Press Trust of India.

It appears naming the babies after COVID-19 wasn't the couples' idea. "When the hospital staff also started calling the babies as Corona and Covid, we finally decided to name them after the pandemic."

Thanks to the lockdown, NDTV says none of the babies' relatives have been able to visit, including their older sister, who is 2 years old.

The twins' mom and dad are keeping their options open for the future, though, and say that the decision to name their children after the 21st century's first pandemic isn't final. If they do opt to change the babies' names at a later date it could well save the twins from a world of playground grief.

We would have guessed that Corona and Covid would be on the list of baby names no one would use in 2020, but here we are.