Seventeen-year-old Taiwanese rookie Baby, a member of JYP’s new girl group OURBIRTHDAY, has suddenly become the center of the JYP OURBIRTHDAY Baby name controversy. After her stage name was revealed, K-pop fans on X started calling it one of the “worst names” they have ever seen.
The reaction hits at a sensitive moment: OURBIRTHDAY is JYP Entertainment’s first new girl group in four years, following NMIXX, and Baby is widely framed as JYP’s second Taiwanese girl-group idol after TWICE’s Tzuyu. With that kind of pressure, the debate over whether “Baby” is cute branding or a PR disaster feels especially intense.
Who Is Baby, JYP’s New OURBIRTHDAY Rookie?
Baby’s legal name is Hsieh Jiaxuan, and media describe her English name as Angela Baby Hsieh. She is a 17-year-old trainee from Taiwan, now debuting in the seven-member group OURBIRTHDAY under sublabel INNIT Entertainment.
She was introduced in the live-action teaser titled “ERROR 502: Bad Gateway,” alongside Korean member Cho Hyejin and Thai member Achiraya. Regional coverage in Taiwan has portrayed her as a former child model and even a former Source Music trainee, though those details are reported by local outlets rather than confirmed by JYP.
What is confirmed is OURBIRTHDAY’s first step into the K-pop scene:
- 1st digital single HUNGRY (Side A) drops July 22, 2026 at 6 p.m. KST.
- OURBIRTHDAY is a seven-member multinational girl group under INNIT, a JYP subsidiary.
- The first revealed trio are Cho Hyejin (Korea), Baby (Taiwan), and Achiraya (Thailand).
Korean and Taiwanese press also mention the name “Cherysha” in connection with Baby’s character, but JYP has not clearly explained how that relates to her current stage name.
Why Baby’s Name Has K-Pop Fans So Divided
Once OURBIRTHDAY’s first members went public, X quickly filled with jokes about the combination of a group called OURBIRTHDAY and a member named Baby. One viral post called the naming “goofy,” another described it as “absolutely ungoogleable,” and others congratulated the group on having “the worst names in K-pop.”
The search issue is real for international fans. Typing “Baby” or “Our Birthday” into YouTube or Spotify pulls up nursery songs, pop classics, or literal birthday playlists long before this rookie idol. Earlier, coverage of the group name alone had already quoted fans worrying that companies are “running out of names” and that weak branding can “make or break” a rookie group.
Some fans are uncomfortable with the word “Baby” being used to market a teenage girl in 2026, especially when K-pop is already navigating global conversations about how young idols are presented. Others simply see the name as part of JYP’s long history of strange but memorable choices, from NMIXX to rock band Xdinary Heroes.
There is also a vocal defense squad. Supporters point out that Baby is literally part of her English name, arguing that mocking it crosses a line. They compare her situation to NMIXX’s Bae, whose super short stage name felt odd at first but quickly became just another familiar JYP name once performances hit.
What This Name Drama Means For OURBIRTHDAY’s Debut
INNIT has been positioned inside JYP as a space for less conventional artists, and pairing a group called OURBIRTHDAY with a member called Baby fits that offbeat strategy. For now, neither JYP nor INNIT has hinted at changing the group or stage names despite the backlash.
Promotions for HUNGRY (Side A) are moving ahead, with more member reveals and teasers expected on official OURBIRTHDAY and INNIT channels as July 22 approaches. The remaining four members have not been publicly named yet, so the full picture of the group’s concept is still coming together.
History suggests this “worst ever” label might not stick. Plenty of K-pop names that were clowned at debut ended up normalized once fans had songs to stream and stages to replay. For Baby and OURBIRTHDAY, the real test starts when the music drops and global audiences can decide whether the name or the performance is what they remember first.