Northern Ireland restaurant owner clarifies post claiming that a baby was named ‘Pakora’

Image by The Captain’s Table

A family in Northern Ireland were thought to have named their newborn child after a popular Indian food item, which caught the attention of many on the internet.

It is common for parents to name their child after their favourite dish or food item, but naming a kid after an Indian dish in the UK is pretty much unheard of.

Newtownabbey’s popular restaurant – The Captain’s Table – had announced on social media that a couple who frequents their restaurant named their baby after their favourite dish on the menu.

The baby was said to have been named ‘pakora’ – a popular and much-loved afternoon tea snack in the country. Pakora is also consumed during monsoons during heavy rains with friends and family.

The restaurant shared a photo of the adorable newborn and wrote, “Now this is a first… welcome to the world Pakora! We can’t wait to meet you!”

Many people on the internet congratulated the couple on the new baby, whilst many of them also engaged in fun banter writing comments about the rather funny yet odd choice of name for the little one.

A user wrote, “These are my two teens – Chicken and Tikka.”

Another user wrote, “My favourite things to eat during my two pregnancies were Banana Popsicles and Watermelon. Thank God I used the sense when I gave birth and did not name my kids after them.”

However, after the post went viral and a barrage of comments were mades online, the restaurant’s owner came forward to clarify and say that she had made up the story. Hilary Braniff told Belfast Live that she had done so to, “bring a little cheer to our industry.” She added that the baby in the photo is actually her granddaughter, Grace. “I think some people might think it’s serious, I’m starting to get a wee bit nervous now. This is a family business, we’re into the third generation now and my sons work here too. It’s not very often you can come up with something you haven’t seen before, but I got up this morning and just thought things are so dull at the minute,” Braniff wrote on Facebook.