Woman takes a bold stand when ‘insensitive’ in-laws persistently call unborn baby by father-in-law’s name

Naming a child can be a big deal for parents, as a name might impact the child for the rest of their life. But quite often, family members try to force their decisions on new parents. A woman faced something similar when her in-laws started calling her unborn child by her father-in-law's name, even though she and her husband had decided that they would give their child a unique name. The woman, u/Spiritual_Noise_7171, wondered if she was wrong for standing her ground in the scenario.

"Ever since I was a child, I knew I wouldn’t name my children after family members," the woman shared. She had grown up in a family where all of her cousins had the same repeated names and they still continued to follow that tradition, making it quite "exhausting." She added, "My husband’s family follows similar naming customs, though not as strictly as mine." When the couple had their first two children they gave them both unique names. "We didn’t include their grandmothers’ names on their birth certificates—just their cultural names as nicknames, which we rarely even use." Now the couple is expecting their third and final child, a boy, and they have decided to give him a unique name too, just like his siblings.

"My sister-in-law has already named her son after my father-in-law, so his name is already being carried on in the family. Yet, my mother-in-law and sister-in-law have started referring to my unborn son by my father-in-law's name, assuming we’ll follow suit." When the woman clarified that she wouldn't be naming her child after anyone, they started pressuring her with "cultural expectations" and told her that the father-in-law's name had to be included somewhere. "I pointed out that if I were to follow that logic, my own family would expect me to name my son after my late father. Their response? 'Well, you can do that with your next baby.'" The couple won't be having another baby. So the woman wondered if she was wrong for standing her ground.

People in the comments section of the thread believed that only the parents should have a say in what their child will be named. u/buckeye-person wrote, "Not only do you have the right to name your own flesh and blood, you have the right to discontinue visits with people who disrespect your right to do so and deliberately refer to your child by a name you did not choose." u/Mac_Jomes commented, "They're your kids you can name them what you want. My dad's mom wanted me to be named after my dad, but my mom unequivocally told her it wasn't happening. She gave me my own name and when my dad's mom kept referring to me as my dad's name, my mom said, 'That's not his name and if you continue to call him that, you won't be seeing him again.'"

u/nylonvest remarked, "I think you maybe made a mistake saying anything about your unborn son's name to these people. Referring to your son by a name you didn't choose is obnoxious and you should have just said it was inappropriate." u/Meat_Bingo shared, "In my husband‘s family, the firstborn males have the same name, different middle name. My husband is the youngest, so his older brother, his dad and his grandfather, all have the same first name. We were the only ones in the family to have a boy. We did not name him after my husband‘s dad. My husband‘s comment was 'it ends with us.' To say he and his dad are not close would be an understatement."