Southern Pines couple Anna Pilson and Decker Platt became the proud parents of a new baby girl on Sept.9. Her name is Harland Rose, aka Harley — but you can call her Colonel.
Anna and Decker, who together manage the One Nine Drive food truck and share their home with their toddler, Lila, named their new addition after the founder of KFC, Colonel Harland Sanders, winning the company’s “Baby Harland Naming Contest,” and an $11,000 college scholarship.
PHOTO COURTESY OF KFC
“We heard about the contest roughly 10 days before Harland was born,” Anna said in an email to The Sway. “One of the servers at 195 told me about the contest as a joke! Our name that we had originally picked out was Halston, and when I heard the colonel’s name was Harland, I was sold.”
The contest stipulated that the baby must be the first of those born on Sept. 9, what would be Colonel Sanders’ own 128th birthday, to be named Harland. We’re guessing there are now a few other baby Harlands who weren’t so lucky as to be born exactly at midnight.
“After Harland was born at 12:00 midnight on the dot, Decker and I knew we had a solid chance of winning the contest,” she said. “We had already planned on naming her Harland no matter what time she was born, though, because we both loved the name.”
The couple submitted an online form with their names, the time Harland was born, and an email address …. and waited. On Oct. 13, they received an email asking for more proof, and submitted her birth certificate. Two days later, the company extended their congratulations.
“Decker and I both just started laughing hysterically!” Anna said. “The odds were absolutely in our favor. Everything worked out so perfectly and we couldn’t be more excited and grateful to have a small savings put aside to hopefully grow into a sizable amount before our sweet Harley heads off to college!”
