Isis Leskien: The eight-year-old Sydney girl whose name is ‘tearing her family apart’

WHEN this couple named their daughter eight years ago, they chose something strong and beautiful. But now it’s tearing the family apart.

WHEN Sydney mum Sheridan Leskien would introduce her daughter, up until a few months ago, the response would always be the same.

“What a beautiful name,” strangers would coo.

“It sounds so strong. So unusual. What does it mean? Where does it come from?”

People would admire the name the parents had borrowed from an ancient Egyptian goddess and given their daughter: Isis.

But in recent months, instead of commenting how “unique” and “beautiful” the name is, Isis’ introductions are met with shock and fear.

Although Sheridan and her husband Frank carefully selected their daughter’s name from ancient mythology, representing a strong, vocal figure, it’s recently come to be synonymous with the extremist Islamic militant group spreading terror around the world.

“Every day there’s some sort of reference in the media or brought up in conversation about fighting ISIS, about how ISIS is evil, and I’m worried that she’s going to be targeted,” Isis’s mum tells news.com.au.

“It’s ruining our family and it’s ruining Isis’s future. I’m heartbroken for all the families being affected (by Islamic State), the journalists, the different people who are suffering, but my family is suffering too.”

Mrs Leskien says Isis, who loves her name, is so far unaware of the evil it’s now associated with, but it’s beginning to affect the rest her family.

Friends have abandoned the couple who live in Bexley in Sydney’s south, saying they’re afraid to be associated with them.

Isis’s brother, 13-year-old Maximus, has already started to be teased at school about his sister’s name and has been in fights defending her.

“Some people say we should change her name, but that's just ridiculous,” Mrs Leskien says.

“She’s eight years old, she’ll hardly be told what to do at all. What people need to do is stop using this beautiful name for this evil group.

Also known as ISIL and IS, the Iraq and Syria-based extremist group is responsible for the public beheadings of journalists and an aid worker.

More than 60 Australians are believed to have travelled to the Middle East to join the terrorist outfit, and its influence is believed to be behind plotted attacks on our home soil, including an alleged plan to publicly behead a random member of the public in Sydney’s CBD, and an attempt last week by a teenage terror suspect to attack two police officers in Melbourne.

It’s been recognised as the most dangerous terrorist group in the world and it’s understandable that women who share ISIS name — which stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham — would rather the media and commentators use the alternative acronyms.

When Mrs Leskien set out to spread this message in Sydney, an online search led her to find her family was not alone in their suffering.

They Sydney mother was the 56th signatory to an online petition started by US woman Isis Martinez, imploring the media to stop using the acronym ISIS for the group.

The petition has now reached more than 30,000 supporters, many of them sharing stories that Sheridan and her young family are all too familiar with.

We have over 30,000 signatures! http://t.co/BC1q3jhcXP pic.twitter.com/IRL4oUIbQx

— Isis Martinez ॐ (@IsisMiami) September 24, 2014

“My 6 year old daughter Isis keeps seeing her name in tabloids and hearing it on the news and asking why people want to fight against her!!!!!!” Mrs Lee Petrelli wrote on the website.

“This needs to stop! When I cheer for her at soccer over the past month all of the adults turn and look at me. It's only a matter of time before her classmates will know of the terrorists as well.”

Other parents have shared similar stories on the petition, and some women named Isis have revealed they’ve faced online bullying over the association and have been forced to adopt their middle names instead.

Mr Leskien doesn’t want her daughter to face the kind of bullying other women named Isis have endured, nor does she want her to be embarrassed by the name she’s now so proud of.

“What we’re trying to say to people is to use the right name, don’t use ISIS,” she says.

“When people talk about ISIS, tell them don’t use that name for terrorists. Tell them Isis is the name of a beautiful little eight-year-old girl.”