Misery of the girl called ISIS - and her distraught father who wants the world to stop using her name to describe the evil beheading regime

A family are calling for people to stop referring to terror group Islamic State as ISIS to avoid confusion with their eight-year-old's name.

Frank and Sheridan Leskien - from Bexley in Sydney's south - named their daughter, Isis, after the Egyptian goddess who was portrayed as a model wife and mother, and is the patroness of nature and magic.

Now the name is associated with the terror organisation Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) - also known as Islamic State - who have claimed responsibility for beheading U.S. and British nationals on camera.

Isis' parents have appealed to the media and the public to stop using the name to refer to the terror group before harm comes to one of the 'tens of thousands' of women who share the same name.

'It's a beautiful name we spent so long choosing it. [The Egyptian goddess] Isis is a nurturer and someone who cares. People used to say to us: "What a beautiful name",' Mr Leskien told Daily Mail Australia.

But the father-of-two said people were now distancing themselves from his family.

'This is hurting my little family and we've lost family because they're scared and don't want anything to do with us...it's soul-destroying,' he said. 

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Islamic State are known by numerous names, including Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and have claimed responsibility for beheadings of U.S. and British nationals

'I have been calling her Isis for eight years, if not longer, because I was calling her Isis while she was in the womb. 

'Do we have to wait until something that happens to one of them before [someone listens]?'

The Leskiens were adamant this was not about race or religion but about the safety of their daughter.

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Isis is an Egyptian goddess who is known as a model mother, and is the patroness of nature and magic

'I just want her name to be safe and be what it's meant to be,' Mr Leskien said.

'All I really want is to go back to my quiet simple life. We’re just simple people.

'What I can do is try as hard as I can as a father to protect my daughter.' 

Mr Leskien said his 13-year-old son, Maximus, had already had to defend his sister's name at school.

'We go to soccer and I call out "Isis" and people look at me,' he said.

'People are scared to...be associated with us.'

But the Leskiens are not the only one taking up the fight to reclaim the name, Isis.

A U.S. woman named Isis Martinez has started up the Thousands of Women and Girls Named Isis, Petition Media to Stop Calling the Terrorists by Our Name petition, asking people to show their support to 'save' the name.

'You can help save the name of #ThousandsofWomenNamedIsis and save us from the backlash of being associated with this horrific terrorist group of monsters,' Ms Martinez wrote in a post on the petition.

'Little girls, especially in the United States, named Isis have reported bullying while women with the name are facing negative associations through their employment and in public places like airports, airplanes even at times being called terrorists themselves. 

'These shameful excuses for human beings should not have been assigned an English acronym with the name of thousands of women and children but there's still time to change the course of this path and more accurate names available.'

So far the care2 petition - which was started by Isis Martinez - has attracted almost 33,000 signatures. 

DAILYMAIL.CO.UK