A British nanny has legally changed her name to Mary Poppins after being likened to the fictional character by clients.
Mary Poppins, formerly Emma Davenport, has been a nanny since she was 18 years old and has often dressed like the character as part of her job.
Now she’s taken her “uncanny resemblance” one step further by officially changing her name by deed poll.
The nanny, from Lancashire, decided to change her name after noticing that Mary Poppins was voted the second most popular fictional character who parents would want to care for their children.
She said: “I’ve always been told by my clients and the children I care for that I look and act like Mary Poppins, which is wonderful because she’s one of my favourite Disney characters and someone I certainly aspire to be like professionally.
“When I saw that Mary Poppins was voted the second most popular fictional character by parents on Childcare.co.uk, I was thrilled! She’s the best!”
Poppins’ mother fostered children throughout her childhood, so she knew early on that she wanted to work with children. She also has a six-year-old daughter of her own.
She continued: “I joked with my husband about changing my name to Mary Poppins for the children I work with. I dress up as Mary anyway for them at parties and they and their parents call me Mary, so when he responded with ‘why not, the children would love it and it might give me an edge’, I decided to do a bit of research.”
She applied for the name change via deed poll and is now called Mrs Mary Poppins.
“My own little girl is so excited and keeps saying ‘mummy is Mary!’ and my nanny children think I’m definitely Mary Poppins now,” she added.
Richard Conway, CEO and founder of Childcare.co.uk, said: “Mary contacted us last week to notify us that she’d changed her name to Mary Poppins and asked whether she could update her profile to reflect her new name.
“Of course we think it’s a wonderful idea and fully encourage her to embrace her new identity professionally.
“With an already glowing reputation as a top-class nanny, we’re sure that the name change will only make Mrs Poppins even more popular amongst parents and children.”