Mom Getting $5,000 to Let Internet Voters Choose Baby Name

natasha hill

Any parent knows that a lot of time, thought, and maybe even arguing went into choosing a name for their little one. Those memories are getting plenty of people riled up about website Belly Ballot’s newest contest: readers can vote for a name for one mother’s unborn child. According to MSNBC, Natasha Hill was one 80 of pregnant women who submitted an application for the chance to let the public choose a baby name and receive $5,000.

Belly Ballot, which is run by mom of three Lacey Moler, will give each voter the chance to vote for one boy name and one girl name between March 18 and March 22 (Hill doesn’t know the sex of the baby).

Hill, whose baby is due in September, is a single art teacher in Los Angeles. She hopes to use the money to pay off debt and set aside at least $3,000 for her child’s education. And while plenty of people are saying she’s crazy to sell her child’s naming rights to strangers, she points out that strangers write baby naming books. Hill says her parents support her decision. Belly Ballot CEO Moler says crowdsourcing is a new frontier in baby names and it isn’t really as uncommon as people think, which is why she created her website.

The mom-to-be won’t sign anything as a part of the contest, meaning she can change the child’s name a few weeks or months after he’s born, but she has faith voters won’t choose anything too unusual. Law experts say it’s highly unlikely courts would force Hill to keep a baby name she doesn’t like, though they would be within their rights to take their money back. For her part, Hill says she likes the name James for a boy but doesn’t yet have a favorite girl name.

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