A woman was left baffled when she told her family what she was calling her little girl, only to be met with resistance from her own grandparents and her sister-in-law
Choosing the perfect moniker for your little one can be really tough, but many people will have a family member they want to honour with a name.
One woman’s grandparents were not pleased with her choice of girl’s name, however, when they noticed it wouldn’t be a mark of respect to their side of the family – but instead would be a sweet nod to her mother-in-law.
The woman explained her mother-in-law had always been “more of a mother” to her than her own mum, saying that she was “forever thankful” for her. “When my husband and I got married my mother-in-law actually walked me down the aisle after my grandparents who were supposed to do it didn’t show up,” she penned in a Reddit post.
The woman said her mother-in-law had been an “amazing support” to her over the years, so when it came to naming her little bundle of joy, it made sense that she’d honour her.
“As an adult I am no contact with my parents and lower contact with my grandparents since the wedding incident. The reason they didn’t show up is because I refused to invite my parents for appearances sake,” she explained.
She shared that when she and her husband found out they were expecting, they “tossed around the idea” of naming her after her mother-in-law, her husband’s mum. She wrote: “I wanted her name to be special and to have a story and real meaning behind it. My mother-in-law has a Rose name and she always wanted to be Rosie but another nickname stuck when she was very young. So we decided if we had a girl we’d name her Rosie and after finding out we were expecting a girl, Rosie became the firm choice.
“We told nobody about the name until we had her. Mother and father in law came to the hospital to meet her which is when we told mother-in-law, as she was holding her namesake. She was so happy and father-in-law was overjoyed for her. But not everyone loved it.”
She explained that her grandparents were “angry” because she’d “honoured” her mother-in-law, and not one of her parents. Her sister-in-law was also angry as she “named both her kids after father-in-law”. She shared: “Her daughter has the female version of his name, son has father-in-law’s middle name as a first name and brother-in-law named his son after father-in-law too.
“Our daughter is the first and maybe only child who will honour mother-in-law. So my sister-in-law feels like I did this to try and make her and brother-in-law feel bad and/or to try and make my daughter the favourite for mother-in-law. My husband said she was being ridiculous and mother-in-law was so upset when she found out what her daughter had said.
“But the backlash surprised me (not as much from my grandparents but from sister-in-law for sure). Sister-in-law blamed me because she said if I hadn’t been okay with it my daughter wouldn’t even have a family name. She told me I was being a b***h to her and brother-in-law and the other grandkids.”
In the comments, people reassured the woman that she could call her children “whatever” she wanted to. One wrote: “You can name your child whatever you want. I think it’s sweet you named her after your mother-in-law. Not sure why others are upset when they named their kids after your father-in-law.”
Another fumed: “Sorry but she’s mad that her brother called his kid after their mum when she called hers after their dad? What planet is she on? Especially thinking that you’ve done it to somehow make her look bad and your lives revolve around her. If she looks bad for naming two kids after father-in-law and no one naming their kids after mother-in-law imagine how bad mother-in-law must have felt when sister-in-law announced their baby names! Honestly some people are just plain selfish and crazy.”
Someone else said: “She feels guilty. She is also irrelevant. You chose the name because your mother-in-law means so much to you personally (and your husband, I assume) and you wanted to honour that. You knew your mother-in-law would be touched that you remembered the story of her name and childhood. It’s a lovely thing you did.
“You didn’t choose your child’s name to get a dig in or for brownie points. If your sister-in-law in law did, or expects other people to do that, then she’s the problem.”
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