When two people are expecting a baby, emotions are high, excitement is even higher, and they’re caught in a whirlwind of decisions centered around their growing family.
One of the favorite decisions is bound to be their baby’s name, pointed out the “Am I the A**hole?” (AITAH) subReddit.
Redditor Noidea367 found out just how entitled some future parents could be about their baby’s name when her pregnant cousin came calling.
When her pregnant cousin demanded that she change her cat’s name so that she alone could use the name for her baby, the Original Poster (OP) was surprised, but when the entire family rallied against her, she was shocked.
She asked the sub:
“AITAH for not wanting to change my cat’s name just because my pregnant cousin wants to use his name?”
The OP was surprised when her pregnant cousin approached her about her cat’s name.
“I (22 Female) found a stray kitten three years ago. I named him Daniel.”
“My cousin and her husband (both 25) are expecting a baby boy in January, and they want to use the name Daniel.”
“My cousin texted me saying she and her husband love the name Daniel and asked me if I could change my cat’s name.”
“When I asked her why, she told me she didn’t want her son to share a name with someone’s pet cat.”
The OP declined the request.
“I told her NO because my cat had that name first and that me changing his name would probably confuse him, because there are studies proving that cats know their name.”
“My cousin called me a jerk, and her husband texted me on her phone, saying to change the cat’s name because he’s just a regular stupid house cat, while his son would have that name forever.”
“I told him the same thing. He called me AH for not wanting to change my cat’s name.”
The OP was surprised by how huge the issue became.
“My mom called me this morning, saying my cousin cried to her, saying I’m being rude.”
“My mom told me I should just change my cat name to just make everyone happy.”
“AITAH?”
Fellow Redditors weighed in:
- NTA: Not the A**hole
- YTA: You’re the A**hole
- ESH: Everybody Sucks Here
- NAH: No A**holes Here
Some argued against entertaining the cousin’s demands.
“Does your cousin normally throw complete sh*t-fits about stupid stuff and expect everyone to bend over backward for her?”
“If that’s the case, tell everyone you renamed the cat. It’s a two-part name. One half is her husband’s name, and the other half is the masculinized version of her name. Don’t actually rename the cat, but turn the drama up so that she learns not to mess with you in the future.”
“All baby clothes and gifts from you are 100% cat-themed. Stuffed cat toy, blanket with a cat print on it, pajamas covered in pictures of sleeping cats…” – maroongrad
“Somewhere on the interwebs, I read about someone bringing home a boyfriend who shared a name with the family cat.”
“They referred to the boyfriend as ‘_____ the human.’ They eventually broke up over it.”
“Imagine being that fragile. This cousin sounds that fragile. NTA.” – Potential-One-3107
“My sisters and I had a cat called Lucy growing up. Years after our cat died, my eldest sister called her first child Lucy. There was no drama.”
“There is no reason for you to change your cat’s name. There is no reason for your cousin not to call their child Daniel.”
“NTA.” – Dalton402
“I am not sure your cousin and her husband are mature enough to be parents. You, however, sound like a great cat mom and are NTA in my book.” – siouxbee1434
“Please make sure Daniel is chipped, put a tracker on his collar if you can, and upgrade security around your house (including cameras inside and out).”
“I don’t know how crazy your relatives are, but for some people pregnancy is like dumping rocket fuel on top of crazy. Make sure your cat is safe, and none of them have access to him.” – PrideofCapetown
“NTA. I would say something to the effect of, ‘I am 100% certain that my cat is not going to upstage your son in life. Neither are even going to know what their names are. They don’t even understand the concept of names. Let’s all get some perspective here.'” – AnxiousTelephone2997
“NTA but question:”
“Under what circumstances would this be an issue? They’re visiting you in a few years and call Daniel over and your cat, responsive and obedient as all cats are (laughing out loud) comes over instead of their son? You post to social media about your cat and they don’t want confusion between cat videos and their own?”
“I mean, lying to people who are being ridiculous I don’t see as being as big of a problem. Can you say, ‘Okay, I’ll change his name to Derrick, but I may forget sometimes and use the name I’ve been used to for three years.'”
“If they’re only going to see you a couple of times a year at, say, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and presumably you visiting without cat, what does it matter if you tell them you changed cat’s name and do nothing?” – epeeist42
“NTA. These people, including your mother, are supposed to be grown adults.”
“I just googled it and in the US, 606.9 people out of every 100,000 are called Daniel. It was the most popular boy name 5 times in the last 20 years.”
“Their child is highly likely to share his name with someone else he will meet at some point.” – chez2202
“Don’t change any name. It’s first come, first served. Tell your mom that the couple can equally choose another name for the unborn baby, and everyone will still be happy. Case closed.” – Greeir1a
“NTA. Sounds like your cousin is immature.”
“I have a cat named Lily Bit and when my son and his wife were expecting a girl, he told me the name they chose. The nickname is Lily. I reminded him I have a cat named Lily and he was fine with it. My granddaughter is 6 now and loves there’s a kitty who shares her name.” – Clean-Fisherman-4601
“Sorry, no one owns a name. The cat was named first.”
“Is your cousin worried about people confusing the two Daniels at work or in social settings? Because I really don’t think they will run into each other all that often. If they do, the Daniels can just explain that, yes, they are in the same family, just different branches. There will probably be only a slight resemblance since OP’s Daniel is adopted.”
“The two Daniels will probably just laugh off any confusion. NTA.” – Liu1845
“Wow. Your whole family is being AHs. That’s crazy, wildly entitled, and super controlling. Good for you sticking up for yourself.”
“I hope you have lots of boundaries with them moving forward to never discuss that again or anything else like it. They seem to need a refresher on what you get to choose and that they do, not that it’s your job to teach them.” – Kindly-Cry-4974
Others took a more sarcastic and hilarious approach.
“The baby and cat need matching T-shirts, one that says, ‘Daniel the Human’ and the other ‘Daniel the Cat.’ That way the family won’t confuse them.”
“Or, you know, really make a point and make the cat one that says, ‘Daniel #1’ and one for the baby that says, ‘Daniel #2.'” – Alibeee64
“I would say, ‘Thanks for acknowledging my great name choice for Daniel when I first adopted him. You’ve now made me realize how good of a choice it was, and I will now be naming all future cats to, the extremely not common at all name of Daniel.'” – aussie_nub
“I would also reach out to my egotistical, entitled cousin and ask them if you should change your name if your husband should change his name, and if there are any other people or pets whose name should be changed in case she might want to use that baby name in the future.”
“Tell your cousin you work with a manager whose first name is Daniel, and you’ll be asking him to change his name too. Ask your cousin what names are acceptable for your pet cat. Tell absolutely every friend relative colleague you have about this insane request from your cousin.” – Ok_Imagination_1107
“I recommend if they start talking about their baby, if they use the name Daniel, ask if the are speaking about cat Daniel or the human Daniel.” – Lizardgirl25
“NTA. If your cousin doesn’t want her kid sharing his name with a cat, then she shouldn’t name him after a cat.” – teresajs
The subReddit could not stop shaking its collective head at the OP’s family, especially her pregnant cousin and cousin-in-law, for their entitlement and weird expectations around baby names.
It hardly seemed likely that Daniel the cat would ever be in the same room as Daniel, the baby, so there would be no opportunities for there to be any sense of confusion about who someone was speaking about, and since Daniel is such a common name anyway, the couple didn’t have a chance from copyrighting the name for themselves.