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.

People would admire the name the parents had borrowed from an ancient Egyptian goddess and given their daughter: Isis. However, in recent months, instead of commenting on 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.

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. 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.

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.

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 a U.S. woman, Isis Martinez, imploring the media to stop using the acronym ISIS for the group. The petition has now reached more than 33,000 supporters, many of them sharing stories that Sheridan and her young family are all too familiar with.