A woman is distraught after realising her best friend intends to use the same baby name she had picked out, though she might be relieved after discovering the name’s meaning.
When it comes to choosing baby names, tastes vary, and finding a name that both parents agree on can be quite the challenge. It can be high-pressure decision that can draw unsolicited advice from family and friends.
A couple who long ago agreed on the name Zadie for their unborn daughter thought they had hit upon the perfect moniker. When they later got pregnant, they were ready to put the name to use.
But one of their friends – who is also expecting but is further along in her pregnancy – has unexpectedly chosen the very same name, causing quite the upset. Not wanting to cause any fuss over what appears to be a genuine coincidence, the couple are now considering a different name entirely for their child.
Taking to Reddit, the expectant mother posted her dilemma under the title “Help, they stole our name!”, and shared her frustration: “We can’t tell them and we’re so close, we can’t name our baby the same thing. We need a replacement.”
She added she and her partner had chosen Zadie because it felt literary, stylish yet not overly trendy, and unique without being too eccentric. They also have another factor to consider when choosing names because their surname is a noun which can lead to unfortunate naming combinations.
“For example, we also liked the name Iona, but with our last name, it would sound like ‘I Own A’ [then our last name].” She then asked for suggestions and the comment section lit up with people eager to share their naming ideas, as well as their thoughts on the name Zadie – and its alternative meaning.
One person highlighted: “Zadie means grandpa in Yiddish. I would find it to be a really weird name.” Another agreed, commenting: “There’s a girl at my kids’ elementary school named Zadie and I’m so super amused people are naming their young girls ‘Grandpa’.
“Personally, I think any non-Jew should go for it if they like the name. There’s only so many two-syllable sounds out there, and it’s hard to pick a name that doesn’t somehow mean something negative in another language.”
A third chimed in with a more humorous take: “Zadie sounds like a Sadie wanting to be spicy”, while another reiterated concerns about the name’s cultural connotations: “I feel like near any Jewish community and people will be thinking about her name being grandfather.
“It’s what I called my great grandfather. My dad’s side of the family is Jewish and I was raised Catholic so I didn’t even learn much Hebrew or Yiddish.”
Yet another individual argued against the criticism: “I never quite get comments like this because lots of names mean different things in different languages. It feels like you’re unable to see a name outside the context of yourself which is wild given how many people you’d meet in a lifetime.”