Tattoos are for life… but names aren’t.
A Swedish mom getting a tattoo of her son’s name came up with a quick fix when the artist made a glaring mistake – she just changed her toddler’s moniker.
Johanna Giselhäll Sandström recently told local newspaper Blekinge Läns Tidning her “heart stopped” and she “thought [she] was going to faint,” when she saw the ink on her arm had an extra letter and read Kelvin — instead of Kevin, The Local Sweden reported.
The 30-year-old mom wanted to honor her children – Nova and Kevin – with a tat three years ago and when the artist didn’t ask about the spelling, she didn’t give it any more thought, she said.
Shortly after, she noticed the glaring mistake and went back to the shop, only to have the artist laugh and say there was nothing he could do except issue a refund.
Sandström balked at the idea of going through the painful and expensive tattoo removal process and thought legally changing her then-2-year-old’s name would be simpler.
The parents have grown to love their son’s “unique” name and the boy – who is 5 now – has taken to it too, Sandström said.
“I had never heard the name ‘Kelvin’ before. There isn’t anyone who names their kid Kelvin. So when I thought more about it, I realized that no one else has this name. It became unique. Now we think it is better than Kevin,” Sandström said.
The couple had just welcomed their third child, a little girl named Freya, and Sandström wants to go under the needle again to add her name.
This time, she’ll be more watchful.
“I’m going to write it down on a piece of paper and check it over 10,000 times,” she joked.