Pregnant Mom Defends Search for Baby’s Name in Cemetery After Video Goes Viral: Not a ‘Place of Evil’

Thanks to Haley Hodge

Good things are frequently discovered where you least expect them to be.

Haley Hodge has gone beyond books and online in her quest for baby names as her due date approaches. This mother of three, who will soon become a mother of four, made the decision to search local cemeteries for names from earlier generations and former lives in order to find inspiration.

Hodge documented this extraordinary journey in a now-viral TikTok video that has elicited conflicting responses from its 2.5 million viewers. In the video, Hodge can be seen talking about names with her husband Rivers and their kids while touring the Old Smithville Burying Ground in Southport, North Carolina.

Thanks to Haley Hodge

Many viewers were moved by Hodge’s inventiveness and appreciated how she honored the memory of the deceased with her choice of names.

One individual remarked, “This is the first video I’ve ever seen like this; never would have thought about it.” But I adore this concept so much! particularly if you investigate the individual.

“This really is stunning. Another TikTok user said, “What a way to honor those that have passed away.”

Not everyone, though, had the same sentiments. The concept unnerved other viewers, who brought up beliefs about pregnant women not being allowed in cemeteries. Hodge tells PEOPLE that although she had always felt at ease in cemeteries, she had expected some criticism because of different cultural perspectives on death.

Thanks to Haley Hodge

“It seems to me like going to a site where people’s greatest friends, grandparents, and other loved ones are buried. It’s not an evil place, according to Hodge. “These are people who were good people who lived lives, hopefully good lives.”

Furthermore, Hodge finds it inconvenient to be close to the deceased.

She continues, “I don’t think spirits are restricted to cemeteries if they exist.” “We’re already surrounded by it; hospitals have morgues, and we have babies born above morgues.”

Hodge also remembers her own early years, when her mother would take the family on trips and visit graves to teach them about the local history.

Thanks to Haley Hodge

According to Hodge, “she realized we’d be more interested if it was a spooky story rather than just history.” “It just grabs your attention more, kind of like kids telling scary stories at a bonfire.”

Hodge had used more traditional means to find names for her first three children, Finley, 10, Banks, 1, and Crew, 3, frequently making notes of names she heard on television. When asked where her name came from, she wanted this fourth kid to be able to tell an intriguing backstory.

Thanks to Haley Hodge

In addition, Hodge made the decision to film their trip to the grave, hoping to show it to her daughter in the future. She had originally intended to keep the videos to herself, but she ultimately decided to share the naming process with everyone.

“At first, I wasn’t going to post them,” she acknowledges. However, I later decided that sharing this was sort of cool. I anticipated that because it was unique, it would draw attention.

11 Characters That Were Pregnant in Real Life, and What Their Babies Look Like Today

Participating in the filming of a series or movie is hard work since celebrities have to get into the skin of their characters to achieve an authentic interpretation. But that doesn’t mean that actors don’t have real lives behind the scenes. Sometimes, actresses decide to become mothers and already have contracts with production companies. This presents a challenge for them, because of their pregnancy, and for the filmmakers who have to decide whether to incorporate the belly into the plot or simply let the actress cover her belly.

Bright Side made a list of 11 celebrities who played during pregnancy (some of them had to hide their belly) and is revealing what these kids that made things complicated for their mothers and producers look like today.

1. Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Seinfeld

During the shooting of the third season of the popular sitcom, Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus became pregnant with her first child, Henry Hall. Baby Henry was born in July of 1992. However, the actress’s pregnancy was never really a problem for the producers of the series. The simple solution writers came up with was to put her character, Elaine, in baggy clothes and any large garments to hide her belly. Henry is currently 29 years old.

2. Claire Danes in Homeland

You probably know actress Claire Danes because of the amazing performance she delivered as the CIA agent, Carrie Mathison, in the television series, Homeland. However, what’s not often talked about is the fact that she was 8 months pregnant when she completed the filming of the second season. Her pregnancy could not be introduced in the plot due to her character, so they decided to use digital retouching to hide her belly. Her son, Cyrus, was born in December 2012, and he’s now 9 years old.

3. Ellen Pompeo in Grey’s Anatomy

During the filming of the sixth season of one of the most popular drama series ever created, Grey’s Anatomy, producers decided to hide Ellen Pompeo’s pregnancy from the cameras. This was done because, for the writers, this was not the right time for her character, Dr. Meredith, to have a baby, and they wanted to keep that for a later moment. In September 2009, Stella Luna, now 12 years old, was born.

4. Zooey Deschanel in New Girl

Zooey Deschanel was 7 months pregnant when season 5 of the hit series, New Girl,was shot. As you probably remember, the actress had to be momentarily replaced by Megan Fox since producers were only able to hide her belly for no more than a few episodes. Deschanel also had to stay off the series until she returned from postpartum rest. Zooey gave birth to her daughter, Elsie, in August 2015, and today the little girl is 5 years old.

5. Holly Marie Combs in Charmed

Holly Marie Combs, who plays Piper, one of the main characters of the series, Charmed, announced during the shooting of the sixth season that she was pregnant. The producers thought it was better to hide her pregnancy at first. However, after a while, they decided that it was better for her character to actually have a child in the story as well. Apparently, Piper’s pregnancy was planned before the actress knew she was expecting a baby, so that came in handy. Combs gave birth to her first child, Finley Arthur, in 2004, and he’s now 17 years old.

6. Amaia Salamanca in Velvet

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Amaia Salamanca’s pregnancy was well-planned when she rejoined the set of Velvet, a show about the compelling Spanish story of a fashion house in Madrid in the late ’50s. Because of this, production had no choice but to make Barbara, her character, pregnant as well. At the age of 28, she gave birth to her first child, a girl named Olivia Varo, in April 2014.

7. Kerry Washington in Scandal

Kerry Washington’s pregnancy happened right in the middle of the shooting of the series, Scandal, in which she played the main character. This unforeseen event forced producers to reduce the number of episodes to hide the actress’s pregnancy that couldn’t fit the schedule of the series. Currently, her daughter, Isabelle, is 7 years old.

8. Kristen Bell in House of Lies

The star of the House of Lies TV series, Kristen Bell, was about 6 months pregnant with her first daughter when the second season of the show was about to be shot. In order to actually film some episodes, the producers had to hire a body double for the scenes in which Bell would have had to show her belly. Her first daughter, Lincoln Bell, is now 8 years old.

9. Cobie Smulders in How I Met Your Mother

https://embed.gettyimages.com/embed/165393821?et=bak9FYxCS1h09phHhjaOIg&tld=no&sig=Dn2XqspeN4ZcyicTRn-p4kc5RF_6Op1Vray794hTe00=&caption=true&ver=1

Actress Cobie Smulders brought her character, Robin, to millions of small screens thanks to the sitcom, How I Met Your Mother. After fellow actress Alyson Hannigan told the show-runners that she was pregnant, Cobie Smulders discovered that she was also pregnant and told the producers who had to camouflage both of their pregnancies. To disguise Smulders’ belly, producers asked the costume designers to use garments and objects that could hide her abdomen, and they had the character remain seated for most of the scenes that she appeared in. In May 2009, the actress gave birth to her daughter, Shaelyn.

10. Madonna in Evita

Madonna, also known as the Queen of Pop, made the controversial 1996 film in which she played the wife of Argentinian dictator Juan Domingo Perón, Eva Perón. However, Madonna was pregnant with her daughter, Lourdes Leon, back then. It was because of this that the crew of Evita cleverly used costumes and camera shots so that it was not noticeable that Madonna was pregnant with her eldest daughter who is now 24 years old.

11. Lisa Kudrow in Friends

When Lisa Kudrow played Phoebe Buffay on one of the most famous sitcoms, Friends, she became pregnant. This was right about when they started filming the fourth season. The producers decided to include her pregnancy in the story by having Phoebe lend her womb to her brother to conceive triplets because he and his wife couldn’t have kids on their own. Today, her only son, Julian, is 23 years old.

What is your favorite family series? What do you think of women who work while pregnant?

Preview photo credit Friends / Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, and, co-producerlisakudrow / Instagram

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