What’s In a Name?
My wife is seven months pregnant, and my brother’s girlfriend is four months. The other day I made a joke about “claiming” a baby name. It was just a reference to a game my brother and I played as kids, where we pointed at random stuff and said “I claim it” and the objective was to build the coolest inventory. The girlfriend knew about the game and got upset because my joke had accidentally “claimed” her father’s name.
We assured her it was a joke and we wouldn’t be using the name, but she was really upset. This wasn’t the hill to go out on so I went and apologized to the girlfriend’s standards—a full-on apology where I said that I messed up, promised not to make the joke again, and said I wouldn’t make references she didn’t get after this. But then it got completely deranged.
She then said, for her own peace of mind, that she needed to see our list of baby name ideas to prove that we weren’t choosing her father’s name. I thought that was already a bit much, but my wife pretty much said “look, the worst is over, at this stage what’s the harm of just showing her the list?” I agreed so we texted my brother the list of potential baby names.
We had two options for first names, and our chosen middle name, which was a family name from my wife’s family that both her brother and grandfather have. He then calls me and says that “she thinks the middle name is too close to her father’s. She says is there anything else you can use?” I explain the significance of the name to both of them over the phone and it’s what we’re using.
They say that it’s too close and we need to pick another name. I then, sarcastically, say “and do we have your approval for our first names?” to which the girlfriend responds “well, actually…” and goes on to tell me that they really like one of our two choices (the one we were leaning more towards) and ask if we can use our other option so they can have the one they like.
It’s a gender-neutral name and not only do they not know the gender of the child she’s currently carrying but they plan to have more children. I love my brother, I really do, but this is ridiculous. I have to put my foot down, I know, but we’re really close and I don’t want to completely screw up our relationship by ticking off his pregnant girlfriend. But, man.