A mum has been left horrified after her mother-in-law went behind her back and told family members that her new grandchild has a different name to the one the parents chose
Choosing your baby’s name is one of the biggest decisions you have to make when you become a parent. Everyone has different tastes, whether you like timeless classics or something unique. And in an ideal world, no one else should judge you for the choice you make.
But what would you do if someone close to you said they didn’t like your child’s name so much that they want to use a different moniker instead? That’s the situation one new mum has found herself in, as her mother-in-law has told her she can’t stand the name she and her husband picked out.
In a post on Reddit, the mum said she recently gave birth to her first child, and she and her husband had chosen a “simple and beautiful” name that they settled on after months of deliberation.
A couple of weeks after their little girl was born, the new parents held a small family gathering to introduce their child. When the dad stood up to share their daughter’s name, however, he was cut off by his own mum, who claimed the girl had an entirely different moniker.
The mum did not share her daughter’s actual name or the name her mother-in-law gave her in the post, but she did give one hint to what the mother-in-law’s chosen name was, as she told family members the new parents had named their daughter “after her” – which they had not.
She wrote: “I froze. I genuinely thought she was joking. But no. She stood there grinning like she’d just gifted us gold.
“My husband and I both looked at each other, completely confused. She then explained that ‘our chosen name is too trendy’, and ‘Her name is a strong family name’.
“She even said she already told her church group and relatives the baby’s name was after her name.”
The mum tried to “stay calm” and told her mother-in-law that her daughter’s name would stay as the one she and her husband agreed on. The dad also took his mum to one side and told her “flat out that renaming the baby was wildly inappropriate”.
However, the grandma hasn’t backed down. She still calls the baby by the wrong name and even sent a personalised bib for Easter monogrammed with the incorrect name.
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The mum asked: “I’m honestly stuck. Do I call her out harder? Do we go low contact? Keep ignoring her? I really want to handle this respectfully but firmly – she’s making it really difficult.”
Commenters on the post were firmly on the mum’s side, with many telling her she and her husband should go low-contact if her mother-in-law isn’t going to respect them as parents. Others also joked that she should start using a different name for her mother-in-law until she realises how “ridiculous” she’s being.
One person said: “I’m sorry you have to deal with this. I would put this on your husband, but go extremely low contact. She will never babysit, etc. I would give her back the bib or throw it out.”
Another added: “Her son needs to continue handling the bulk of this issue. If she cannot refer to your child by her correct name, she doesn’t need to see her until she can get it right!”