Mother Who Named Her Child After Lockdown Has No Regrets | 'It Was a Good Time in Our Lives'

Lockdown was a difficult time for many but not for Jodi Cross. For her and her husband, it was the best time of their lives. Hailing from Wixams in Bedfordshire, she had been trying to start a family for about a year. Cross, 36, was pregnant with her first daughter during the second wave in 2021, according to the Independent.  When their baby girl was born on November 28, 2021, Cross and her husband, Rob, 26, wanted to name their child something unusual. So, they named her Lockie, after the lockdown.

Cross works as a hairdresser and unlike others, she calls the lockdown a "really good time" in their lives. So, they wanted to name their child after it. “We had been trying for a year to get pregnant and lockdown meant I was furloughed and Rob was working less," she said. “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 she was born there was the new strain of Covid coming about — Omicron — so we knew she'd be a lockdown baby," she added.

Cross doesn't care what people think about the name. “So we named her Lockie for lockdown - we really liked the name, and the lockdown was a good time in our lives because it was so relaxing. People might not like the name, but I don't care what they think," she said. “We know lots of people didn’t enjoy lockdown but for us, it was a good time."

Rob and Jodi Cross reconnected on Tinder in 2019, they had attended the same school and were in the same school. They started talking and met at a local pub to catch up with each other. The two fell in love and while they were dating, the pandemic hit and there was a nationwide lockdown in March 2020. Rob was living separately, so he decided to move in with Cross. Rob has another child from a previous relationship. 

When Cross was seven months pregnant with Lockie, the couple got married in secret. She explained that the name Lockie was not only based on the pandemic but also on many other coincidences. “There was a girl who came into the salon whose surname was Lockey at the time we were considering names - and then we got married in Gretna Green in Scotland, where there are lots of locks,” Cross said. “The primary reason was definitely lockdown, but the name just felt right.”

“You never know, other people might hear our story now - and next year it might be the most popular baby name,” said Cross.

References:

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/baby-names-lockie-covid-lockdown-b2205284.html

Cover Image Source: Getty Images/ Guido Mieth