Mum divides opinion after naming five sons after TV and film characters

Choosing baby names can be tricky, but one mum has revealed how she decided to name her five boys after film and television characters.

Rachael Cresswell, 42, and her husband, Daniel, 39, from Devon, decided to take inspiration from their favourite movies when it came to choosing their little ones' names.

“They are all named after TV shows we were watching together while I was pregnant," says Rachael.

“It was really great to give us inspiration.

“It’s nice to have that connection to the pregnancy too.”

Yet the kids' unique names have come in for a fair bit of criticism online, with someone claiming her son's name made him sound 'like a criminal'.

SWNS

The couple's eldest son, Jaxon, is named after the Sons of Anarchy character Jax, while Noah, seven, is inspired by Ryan Gosling's character in The Notebook.

Cole, six, is named after Joshua Jackson's character in The Affair.

Their fourth son, Bodhi, is inspired by Patrick Swayze's villain in Point Break and youngest Leif was named after Rachael and Daniel discovered the childhood name of Joker actor Joaquin Phoenix.

Rachael said: "We were struggling with a name for Leif.

“We were watching the film Signs and were commenting on how good Joaquin Phoenix is in it and then found out his birth name is Leaf."

Some of Joaquin's early acting credits were under the name Leaf Phoenix, having reportedly wanted his name to be more nature-based like his siblings River and Rain.

He later changed his name back to Joaquin.

SWNS

Rachael continued: "The Scandinavians spell it Leif which is more common."

Rachael says she was unsure if she wanted children initially, but after welcoming Jaxon, she loved motherhood and fell pregnant with Noah six months later.

“I didn’t know I would enjoy motherhood so much,” Rachael said.

“We ended up with three under three.”

But not everyone loved their choice of names, with the mum explaining some were quite opinionated over their decision to name their kids after movie characters.

“Someone told me that they though Jaxon sounded like a criminal,” the mum says.

“Some people were not so sure about the name Leif online but family and friends love it. People like to have an opinion about names. People comment things like ‘she did not name her child Leif.’”

But despite the criticism, Rachael loves the connection the names had with each of her pregnancies.

She said: "All of our sons have really grown into their names. Most babies suit their names I think."