As millennial parents embrace nostalgia and turn to the 1990s for baby name inspiration, one speech-language pathologist is sounding the alarm on a few popular choices.
Chloe Conrad, a speech therapist who shares parenting tips on Instagram, recently went viral after listing three names she advises parents to avoid — not because they’re outdated, but because they’re difficult for young children to pronounce.
In her video, which has already racked up over 250,000 views, Conrad states plainly:
“Three names I would never name my child as a speech therapist: Rory, Rowan, and Aurora. They’re so hard to say.”
In the post’s caption, she elaborates, saying names that contain the letters R and O next to each other tend to trip up developing speakers.
“I LOVE the way they sound but struggle teaching a child to say them.”
And she’s not alone — commenters quickly chimed in with their own pronunciation struggles.
“I guessed Aurora before she even said it! I always thought it sounded weird when parents yelled it at the soccer field,” one user wrote.
Another added, “I just realized I can’t say Aurora at all!”
Conrad explained to TODAY.com that the R + O combination is especially tricky for young children.
“The W sound is made with rounded lips, and O is also a rounded vowel,” she said. “So when you put the two together, it becomes increasingly difficult for a young child to produce clearly.”
Fortunately, most parents seem to be leaning toward easier, classic names. The top baby names in the U.S. continue to be Liam for boys and Olivia for girls — holding the No. 1 spots for eight and six years respectively.
Other old-fashioned names like Theodore, Oliver, Owen, Eleanor, Eloise, and Margaret are also making a comeback. According to Colleen Slagen, author of the upcoming book Naming Bebe, vintage names bring a sense of nostalgia.
“A lot of parents look through their family trees, taking inspiration from grandparents and great-grandparents,” she told Yahoo! Life.
So if you’re expecting and leaning into retro names, just remember — not all ’90s throwbacks are speech-friendly.
