Choosing a name for your new baby can be a difficult task. A single wrong choice can lead to problems at school, embarrassing nicknames, butchered pronunciations, and even family disputes.
The uncertainty behind it might be one of the reasons why Reddit’s r/BabyNames channel, dedicated to finding answers for questions around the theme, is on the social network’s top 6% most popular communities, gathering more than 15 thousand people.
That community is where Redditor StewEddy turned to for advice, explaining that the name they intend to give to their new baby might become a problem within their family.
“My partner and I are expecting our second boy and our top boy name happens to also be my sister in law’s nephew’s name”, they wrote on a post, asking for other users’ opinions on the matter.
“Is it acceptable to use that name or is it off limits? For context, I only see her nephew if there is a party for my niece and nephew – and I haven’t seen them in probably three years”, they added.
They wrote one last concern: “If you do think it’s fine, does it require a conversation and approval from your sister in law?”
The question had mostly positive responses, with most of the users agreeing that the original poster did not need to change the name they wanted to give their child.
One user wrote: “I’d use it. As you’ve said you rarely see them, it would be no different than bumping into a stranger at a child’s birthday party whose son shared the same name.” Another gave her own point of view on a similar situation: “My daughter has a cousin (my boyfriend’s dad’s sister’s son’s daughter lmao) with the same name. We rarely ever see them. They’ve met and think it’s cute they have the same name. Not a big deal.”
“Names don’t belong to anyone. Choose the name you like and that’s it. Quite simple actually. Who cares what others think or say. It’s your child, not theirs”, shared a commenter, and others highlighted the fact that both children would have little contact with each other.
On the other hand, a user pointed out how they thought talking to the other family members would help the new parents come to a decision. They said: “I think a conversation couldn’t hurt. I do think there will be judgement from family in general, and it’s up to you as a couple to decide if it’s worth it.”