Anyone who aspires to be a parent one day has a vague idea of what they want to name their children.
Of course, the partner with whom they end up raising their children might not feel as passionately about their desired names as they do.
Complicating matters further, almost all their nearest and dearest will likely have an opinion as to what their child should be named.
Even if, unlike their spouse, they don't really have a say.
Redditor Accomplished-Owl8796 was expecting her first child.
A child her husband jokingly gave a temporary name to.
Unfortunately, most of the original poster (OP)'s family found this joke name to be ideal, urging the OP to use it.
Something the OP refused to even consider.
Wondering if she was being unreasonable, the OP took to the subReddit "Am I the A**hole" (AITA), where she asked fellow Redditors:
"AITA for refusing a name for my baby that everyone loves and but I don’t?"
The OP explained why the name of her unborn child had become a hot-button issue among her family:
"I (27 F[emale]) and my husband (28 M[ale]) are expecting our first child in the fall."
"It’s a girl!"
"We’re both really stoked and have wanted kids for a long time now."
"Ever since we decided to start planning on having kids, my husband has been using a joke, placeholder name for our baby."
"He’s second-generation Irish, and he’s been calling our baby Siobhan."
"He likes that it’s traditional Irish and, don’t get me wrong, it really is a pretty name, but my major hangup is: we live in the US, we were both born and raised in the US, and the US is known to be kinda garbage at pronouncing traditional Irish names right, on the first try anyway."
"I do not want to send my daughter to 12+ years of public education and have teachers, substitutes, and fellow students unable to say her name right on the first try."
"My name is a pretty standard name here, but it’s spelled differently because my dear, sweet mother wanted me to be 'unique,' but all I got was grief for it."
"Kids can be mean, and I don’t want my kid to have a name that might get her bullied or cause her teachers to call her 'Si-o-Bo-Han' (not at all how you’d pronounce it) every time they call her name in class."
"The problem?"
"EVERYONE is telling me that I TOTALLY need to use the name, Siobhan."
"My own parents say that it’s pretty and unique (again with that word, Mom *rolling my eyes*) my aunt and cousins are saying 'well, that’s what you call her anyway' (my husband does, I don’t); and my husband’s family gush over it too."
"I’ve told everyone that it’s not what I want to go with, but it’s like talking to a brick wall!"
"My husband’s cut down on calling the baby Siobhan since he knows it’s not what I want and that it bugs me."
"He’s told them that I was really just a joke name and he kept using it just to tease me (we have a very playful teasing type relationship. I’ve given as good as I’ve gotten in that respect)."
"He’s said multiple times it’s not what we’re actually going with but things are starting to get out of hand."
"My mom and sister have already tried getting embroidered blankets with Siobhan ordered for the baby!"
"They only failed because they called me to confirm the spelling and I shut it down hard."
"Now they’re pissed because I still can’t make up my mind on what I ACTUALLY want to name my daughter and I’m just a mess."
"I’m pregnant, my head hurts, and…I don’t know."
"Am I just making a big deal over nothing?"
"Should I just name the baby Siobhan and get it over with or is this worth putting my foot down on?"
"AITA if I don’t name my baby Siobhan?"
Fellow Redditors weighed in on where they believed the OP fell in this particular situation by declaring:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You're The A**hole
- NAH – No A**holes Here
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
The Reddit community resoundingly agreed that the OP was not the a**Hole for refusing to name her daughter Siobhan.
Everyone agreed that the only two people who should have any say on the name of a child are the child's parents, regardless of what the name is:
"Oh girl, NTA at all."
"Let everyone who keeps using the name know that unless the teasing stops, you will not be sharing any more pregnancy updates, or birth updates."
"That should shut that sh!t down."- CultOfDunsparce
"NTA."
"Naming babies is a two-yes answer."
"Yours and your husband."
"You need to call this child this name for the rest of your life."
"It should be a name you like."- Compulsive-Gremlin
"I got called a b*tch for not naming my kid what my mother suggested."
"It's your kid."
"You're carrying it."
"You're giving birth to it."
"You name it whatever you want."
"NTA."- eleventhing
"NTA."
"But I WILL say that I knew right away what the name was and how to pronounce it."
"It may not be as uncommon as you think it is."
"That said, that’s a moot point if you don’t like it."
"She’s your daughter, and one of the biggest joys of having kids is naming them."
"Tell everyone to back off while you figure it out."
"Your family has already had their chances to name kids, and they need to exercise some patience while you name yours."
"Congrats on your baby girl."
"I’m sure she will have a lovely name soon."- DecemberViolet1984
"As an Irish person with an Irish name, I got called every name beginning with the same letter apart from my actual name while visiting America."
"And that’s from me saying my name, not them reading it."
"And my name can be broken into two regular, everyday used words to pronounce it."
"So I totally understand your hesitation, especially when it comes from your lived experience of a unique name."
"Definitely NTA."
"Maybe a compromise and use Siobhán as a second name."- SlidePlayful4755
"If you don’t like the name, why would you give in?"
"She’s your baby, and you have the right to like her name."
"No one else has that right other than your husband."
"Naming is a two-yes, one-no situation, which means that if either you or your partner doesn’t like it, it’s an automatic veto no matter how much one partner likes the name."
"There are plenty of beautiful Irish names out there if you want to go the traditional route."
"To be fair, most of them have spellings that would make it hard, but honestly, it’s 2026, and Siobhan and Saoirse and names like them are becoming more common."
"Shut the sh*t down with your families and maybe head on over to r/namenerds if you need help."
"NTA."- salukiqueen
"NTA."
"What sort of crappy people give grief to a pregnant woman about what to name HER child?!"- lofi_buddy
"NTA."
"It’s between you and your husband."
"Everyone else needs to back off."- socialdistraction
"NTA."
"NYS teacher here and Siobhan is not a difficult name in my area."
"I have an Oonagh and an Aoife in my class, and have known a Ceilidh."
"We also have a ton of other ethnically diverse names, so it's not a big deal."
"However, baby names are not for a committee to decide."
"I personally told everyone that if I had a girl, I would name her after myself."
"If I had twins I would name them Conifer and Lucifer (Connie & Lucy)."
"I think at one point I said our baby's first name would be predator and the middle name be versus."
"People stopped asking about names after that."
"I think you and your husband need to tell everyone the most ridiculous baby name and just double down."
"The placeholder needs to be outrageous."
"Don't get mad and frustrated."
"Turn the tables and start having fun telling people names you would never use."
"People learned my baby's name after she made her arrival, and not a second before."
"Same with my son."- JG-UpstateNY
"Baby naming needs to be agreed on by both parents if both parents are in the picture, so NTA if you don't want to name your child this name or any name."
"The baby is not born yet, so who cares if you 'still' haven't decided?"
"I will say though, I know American Siobhans, and it's really not that hard for people to learn, and they have not been scarred by occasionally needing to teach people how to say it."- granitebasket
It's easy for the OP's family to encourage her to give her child an unusual name like Siobhan.
Particularly as they won't be the ones dealing with her name being constantly mispronounced by teachers and friends.
Then too, despite what the OP's mother claims, as there are likely countless Siobhans in Ireland, the name isn't even unique...
