Mother Outraged As Cousin 'Steals' Her Son's Name For Newborn Nephew, Now She's Refusing To Address The Baby By Its Name

A battle over naming rights.

Jesse

• Published in Interesting
• February 12, 2024

Imagine growing up with a cousin who's turned everything into a competition. From college applications to life milestones, it's been a relentless game of one-upmanship.

The OP (Original Poster) of this story, a 33-year-old woman, thought she'd left all this behind. Enter adulthood, jobs, babies, and... the same baby name? Yep, you heard it.

After years of rivalry, her cousin decides to name her newborn son the exact same name as OP's one-year-old. Plot twist? She kept it a secret until D-day.

Now, here's where it gets juicy: OP is steaming, not because of the shared name (let's be honest, it's a common one) but because of the secrecy and the silent "gotcha!" moment that her cousin was trying to pull off.

OP has been so miffed that she's resorted to calling her nephew "the baby" or "the little one." Petty or justified? You decide.

So, dear reader, as you sip your morning coffee or scroll through your feed during that endless office meeting, we're tossing the ball to you.

Is OP the villain for not wanting to share her baby's name, or is her cousin the mastermind behind the ultimate family troll? Dive into this delicious dilemma and tell us: AITA for refusing to call my cousin's son by his name?

The story in detail

A bit of background

OP was shocked to find out that her cousin and her husband gave their newborn the same name as her 1-year-old son

OP is furious that the couple kept the name a secret and didn’t even care to ask if she would be ok with it. Consequently, she has refused to address the newborn by that name

First edit

Second edit

We gathered some reactions from the Reddit community:

“NTA for not liking your cousins choice of names for her kid. But don’t punish the kid.”

“You could embrace it by telling her you're so happy she loved your son enough to name hers after him.”

“It happens a lot and families name children after their grandparents all the time.”

“Your cousin is pathetically copying you but your reaction to this by not referring to this child by name doesn't show more maturity.”

“To be honest had she not made such a big deal about keeping the name secret it would have not bothered you.”

Netizens have weighed in, and while they get why OP feels blindsided by her cousin's secretive move, the consensus is clear: taking it out on an innocent baby isn't the way to go. \

One sage Redditor put it perfectly, suggesting OP should "Smother her with kindness by telling her you're so happy she loved your son enough to name hers after him."

If only the cousin had been upfront, this might have been a non-issue. But here we are. Hopefully, OP handles this with grace and avoids turning a naming squabble into a full-blown family saga.

We're curious to hear your thoughts. Should OP move past the name game, or does she have a right to her silent protest?

Jesse