The ancients believed that the name a person receives at birth influences their life and becomes a kind of sacred sign, connecting them with their ancestors, clan and the surrounding nature. Today we take it way simpler when naming kids, but this doesn’t mean that naming dramas have disappeared.
Quite the opposite - and here is another confirmation of this. The story from the user u/Any-Bit2864 has racked up nearly 5.3K upvotes in a few months, and over 1.5K various comments. The story is about how relatives tried to influence the name of an unborn child, and how the mom tried to defend her and her husband’s choice.
More info: Reddit
The author of the post lost her mom at the age of 5 and then her dad remarried another woman
Image credits: Brett Sayles (not the actual photo)
The mom gave the author the first name Acacia and the dad added the second name Claire
Image credits: u/Any-Bit2864
The stepmom tried several times to 'rename' the girl with her second name, but to no avail
Image credits: CHUTTERSNAP (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Any-Bit2864
Recently the author got pregnant and the spouses decided to give their baby a 'nature' name too
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Any-Bit2864
However, the stepmom tried to push various 'classic' names and even called the mom-to-be 'rude' for dismissing her ideas
The heroes of our story today are the Original Poster (OP) and her husband, both 25 years old, who are about to have their first child. And, of course, on the eve of this significant event, the author’s relatives began to try to guess what name the baby would receive.
As for the name, the OP has her own history, and it’s actually a long one. The thing is that her mother herself bore a not very common name, in a ‘nature’ style, and gave a similar name to her daughter. Meanwhile, her dad chose the girl’s middle name - so our heroine’s name is Acacia Claire.
When the girl was 5 years old, her mom, alas, passed away and her father soon remarried another woman, let's call her 'Jane.' And their next children had quite common names. However, Jane tried to ‘rename’ the original poster too, suggesting that she be called simply Claire. But the girl was adamant, considering the name Acacia to be a kind of connection with her late mom.
And so, years later, Acacia married a guy who, by the way, also has a ‘nature’ name - and much rarer than his wife's - and the couple decided to give their baby something in the same style. However, the less time remained before the birth, the more actively Jane and the author's stepsiblings tried to find out the baby’s name - and they themselves suggested different 'darling' names, which, in their opinion, would blend perfectly with other family names.
But mom-to-be didn’t give up - and only said that it was her and her spouse’s business what name their child would have. The stepmom, however, said that the OP is 'callously' dismissing her ideas - and that it wouldn’t be easy for the kid to live with an unusual name in the future. Acacia claims, however, that in 25 years of her life she has never encountered any problems over her unusual name.
Image credits: Mark Timberlake (not the actual photo)
Well, relatives - even if they are the closest ones - very often come up with various ideas about children's names, and then are sincerely offended when no one obeys these ideas. For example, my own eldest daughter's name is Eva - and when I told my family about this idea, my grandma was horrified, saying that my daughter would definitely be bullied - simply because the wife of a certain and very notorious German also had that name!
Now Eva is ten, she loves her name... and needless to say, she has never experienced bullying for this specific reason in her life. Perhaps children today are less erudite than my late grandma - or maybe the old lady was just a tad bit entitled... As, indeed, were the relatives of the original poster.
Yes, people in the comments subjected the author’s stepmom to massive criticism, claiming that it was absolutely none of her business what a mom would name her baby. "Ah another stepmom trying to assert her dominance over a childs dead mother. That is exactly what this is," one of the commenters wrote. “Be prepared for them to refuse to call your child by their name and to put them on a time out until they do,” another one added.
As for advice to the expectant mother on what to do next, the opinions of commenters are also almost unanimous - to stand her ground. Period. “Frankly, I would name the kid after your mother after all this harassment. Both first and middle name,” one person supposed. “I think you need to cut WAY back on contact with them,” another one claimed. “The fact that they sincerely believe that they have the right to dictate to you what your child's name should be feels creepy.”
By the way, as for attempts to name a child not the name given at birth, but the name that relatives like best, this actually happens quite often. We have at least two examples of such situations: this one abount grandparents trying to 'rename' the teen and this one - about the rude sister attempting to push new mom rename her newborn daughter. So please feel free to read these tales as well and maybe add your own point of view on this particular case in the comments as well.
People in the comments, meanwhile, sided with the author massively, urging her to not give up and stand her ground
