5-year-old writes a persuasive letter to her parents to change her name to 'prettiest name ever' – and raises $150 for court fees

Kids often say the darndest things, so when a 5-year-old told her parents she wanted to change her name from Charlie to Charlotte, they dismissed her. She was not to be deterred though, as her parents would find out with time. It all started when Charlie Paige wrote her mother a letter expressing her wish to change her name. Bri, Charlie's mom, was surprised to receive her request in writing. Bri is an educator and was receptive to Charlie's pleas but still was not giving in, considering she was too young. Bri shared Charlie's story on TikTok in celebration of Women’s history day.

Just when Bri thought Charlie's campaign to change her name had died out, her 5-year-old daughter started doing research to find out the procedure to change her name. Charlie found out she had to go to court, pay close to $200 as a fee, have her name change published and most importantly, her parents had to agree to it as she is a minor. Charlie wasted no time and went about selling friendship bracelets to pay for the fee, while constantly talking to her parents about it. Bri was shocked when she learned he daughter had raised $80 by selling friendship bracelets. In no time, she had $150 set aside to change her name.

Bri detailed the story on TikTok and after it racked up more than 4 million views, she decided to share the letters Charlie wrote as well. "Dear mommy and daddy, I like it better than Charlie, Charlotte is a girl's name and it’s the prettiest name ever. I don’t like Charlie, Charlotte is my passion. Love, Charlie,” read one letter. “Charlotte is a better name than Charlie, Charlotte makes me feel strong, Charlotte makes me feel independent, Charlotte makes me feel pretty, Charlotte makes me feel creative and Charlotte makes me feel loved,” read another. The videos have garnered more than 700,000 likes and thousands of comments. 

From the three TikTok videos, it was evident that the girl's father is the strongest opponent to Charlie changing her name. “To dad, I know you don’t want me to change my name, but can we change my name for me please,” wrote Charlie. Bri did hint that the girl's father appears to have agreed, after making her a custom backpack with the name "Charlotte" on it. While Charlie appears to have overwhelming support, it remains to be seen if they plan to make it official. Throughout history, it's always taken strong women to bring about concrete changes. As her mother put it, "Someday, my daughter's going to make history." We couldn't agree more. She might be only five, but I'd put my money on Charlotte being a trailblazer.

Bri and Charlie ended the video by asking their followers for ideas to help convince her Dad to change her name. 

This article originally appeared 3 years ago.