Do you remember, a couple of months ago, we brought you a wonderful and funny selection of baby names, proving that dad is not always the best person to choose a name for a newborn? Well, now it’s time to restore justice - not all moms have common sense in naming children.
Moreover, some mothers seem to sincerely believe that the best thing they can give their offspring is a “unique” name. And the fact that later the child will suffer problems in life with a name that looks simply strange to other people - who actually cares? At least this story from the user u/LowMistake7491 is the best proof of that.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post is dating a girl whose mom gave her a very weird name
Image credits: Sergey Makashin (not the actual photo)
In fact, the name sounds quite common, but it differs very much in writing
Image credits: LowMistake7491
So one day the girl had had enough of it and officially changed her name to its pronunciation
Image credits: SAULO LEITE (not the actual photo)
Image credits: LowMistake7491
The girl's mom, however, was incredibly outraged at such a 'betrayal'
Image credits: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
Image credits: LowMistake7491
The woman broke into the couple's apartment and showered the daughter with accusations and insults
Now let's meet the hero of our story - the Original Poster (OP) is a guy dating a girl who has a very rocky relationship with her own mom. There are many reasons for this, the author tells us, but one of the main ones is that at birth, the mother “awarded” her daughter with a completely strange name.
No, the name sounds quite normal, but in writing, everything turns out differently. Something like Hayzelle Mahrree, the OP writes. Moreover, at the time of the girl's birth, her parents were not officially married, so she received her mom's last name.
Perhaps you understand well that in adult life, at work, in school and so on - such a 'unique' name only caused problems for its bearer. And so, the girl took a completely logical and rational step - one fine day she did the proper paperwork and officially became 'Hazel Mary,' and to top it off, she also changed the last name to her dad's.
Well, the OP and his girlfriend, of course, expected a violent reaction from her mom to this news, but they didn't at all expect that it would be so damn volcanic. The mom literally broke into their apartment (the couple made a strategic mistake by renting it not far from the mom's place) and showered her daughter with insults, accusations of ingratitude and God knows what else.
According to the woman, she, as a mother, has every right to name her daughter as only she wants, and this name is supposedly the best thing that her daughter received from her. Mom became more and more angry with each passing minute, so it took the OP’s physical intervention to push her out the door. Well, now the angry woman curses them both at every opportunity, and the author and the girl are seriously thinking about changing their place of residence...
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
The desire for parents to stand out when coming up with a name for their child can actually take many forms. Let's say a baby can get a fairly well-known name, but not very popular in the recent years or even decades. Or parents may simply like a certain word.
Perhaps the most famous example is basketball legend Kobe Bryant, who was named after the popular meat dish, Kobe beef, which his parents once saw on the menu of a restaurants in Europe where his dad, also a fairly famous basketball player, then played. Or maybe another basketball dad: LaVar Ball, whose three sons also all have first names starting with L.
"No one keeps a tally of how many people change their names each year," Chicago Tribune quotes Bruce Lansky, the author of several books about names. According to this source, the number of such people varies around 50K per year.
The reason for a name change can be literally anything - from a change of religion (Cassius Clay becoming Muhammad Ali or Lewis Alcindor becoming Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) to social beliefs (Lloyd Bernard Free becoming World Be Free). Or Ron Artest becoming first Metta World Peace and then Metta Sandiford-Artest (I honestly have no idea about the reasons for the name change here, but this example still looks damn outstanding).
In any case, the right attitude towards the likely change of a child’s name upon reaching adulthood was shown by the great musician David Bowie, who first named his son Zowie, and then in one of his interviews calmly noted that if his son later wants to change his name, then it's his own business. Fast forward to now, that's exactly what happened, and we now know the former Zowie Bowie as the film director Duncan Jones.
Well, if earlier, in the old days, picking a name for a newborn child really meant something for their fate (at least the parents and all the people around them sincerely believed in it), today it's mainly solely a matter of the name-givers' aesthetic preferences. And these aesthetic preferences can indeed be quite questionable.
Accordingly, such a parent cannot be called otherwise than 'entitled'. So the vast majority of people in the comments to the original post unanimously sided with the author and his girlfriend. "Congrats to your girlfriend in getting the name she wanted," one commenter aptly wrote. "I am sorry her mother is having that way and hope leaves you two alone so that you don't have to break your lease."
In fact, when choosing a “quirky” or “cute” name for a child, many parents probably don’t even suspect that years will pass, their baby will grow up and will be left to deal with this name alone. "We don't name babies, we name adults. No sane adult is going to sign their name as 'Dr. Nevaeh Jhoone Smith' or 'Judge Kinzlee McTinsley Parker'," another person says quite sarcastically.
And, perhaps, the most witty comment was this one: "This is such a tragedy." So what do you, our dear readers, think about this situation? Do you remember any similar cases of such an inappropriate naming?
Most of the commenters sided unanimously with the author and his girlfriend, stating that she did 100% right
