What’s in a name? It’s a special moment when two proud parents settle on the perfect name for their newborn, the name that they’re about to repeat with tiredness and irritation and joy and laughter ad infinitum over the rest of their lives. So what does it matter exactly where said name came from? That’s the argument one dad will be using, anyway, after his wife discovered their precious baby girl is named after a Batman character.
TikTok user @viashoe found out the truth about the (superhero) origins story of her daughter’s name when she spent Thanksgiving with her husband’s family. She learned that it’s an age-old family ritual to watch a particularly seasonal episode of 90s classic Batman: The Animated Series on Turkey Day, and when a certain character name was said aloud it all suddenly clicked and she realized what her hubby had done. Thankfully, the moment the penny dropped was caught on camera.
So what is this dynamic duo’s DC-flavored name for their daughter? Selina, maybe, after Catwoman? Or Harley (as in Quinn)? Actually, it’s a lot subtler than that which is why viashoe didn’t realize for so long. The couple’s 10-month-old baby is actually called… Nora.
As viashoe explains in her caption, but Batman fans have probably already worked out, Baby Nora is named after Nora Fries, the cryogenically frozen wife of tragic villain Mr. Freeze — the episode her husband’s fam watch every Thanksgiving is likely Freeze’s introductory story, “Heart of Ice.” Honestly, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise to her, as she goes on to outline just how crazy her husband — who we shall now christen Bat-Dad — is about the Caped Crusader. Hilariously, she even notes that he “accidentally “proposed to her on National Batman Day. And you thought you were a big Batman fan because The Dark Knight is in your Letterboxd top four…
Although Nora is a beautiful name without any overt Batman connotations (many TikTokers congratulated viashoe on her daughter’s name, explaining that it means “light and beauty in Arabic”), the gags nonetheless rolled in like the Batmobile in the comments. “This is our lovely daughter Nora, and this is our son Clayface,” wrote one regular joker. “That’s why my daughter is called Optimus Prime,” quipped another wannabe clown prince. Others were disappointed, however: “I was waiting for robin, nora is so normal.”
It turns out Bat-Dad is far from alone, though, as many others took the opportunity to admit that they’ve done the exact same thing. “Took my ex wife 7 YEARS before she realized I named out daughter after a Final Fantasy Character,” one comment confessed, as another came clean: “My husband named our son after a character on prison break.” Then there’s the Harry Potter fan in the room: “I’m a big fan of Harry Potter and my wife came up with the name Luna not realizing and she wondered why I instantly agreed then the nurses exposed me.”
“I love my daughter’s name, I love my dorky husband, but all future baby names will have a thorough background check…” viashoe says in her caption. It could be worse, though. Nora is a name that’s actually made a huge comeback this century, with the Social Security Administration‘s list of top baby girl names ranking it at a mere 502 in the year 2000 but then placing it in 30th position in 2020. Talk about a dark knight horse.