Unique baby names seem to be all the rage nowadays.
But how far is too far?
That’s precisely what a guy on Reddit, who goes by the name MajorAcer, is asking.
The OP (Original Poster) took the issue to the AITA (Am I The A**hole) subReddit, asking his fellow Redditors:
“AITA for laughing when my friend told me he wanted to name his son Jackson with a G? (Gackson)”
OP explained:
“My friends [girlfriend] is 8 months pregnant and while hanging out the other day the topic of names came up.”
“We kicked around some pretty normal ones (Brandon, Anthony, Hector), when he suddenly threw out Jackson, which I actually like.”
“But then he surprised me by mentioning that he wanted to name him Jackson, with a ‘G’.”
“I immediately bust out laughing and then ask where the hell the G would go. In fact I pretty much fell out of my chair because that sh*t is hilarious.”
“Well it turns out he wasn’t messing with me and someone on his dad’s side was actually named Gackson (pronounced Jackson).”
“I stopped laughing once he made it clear that he was deada**, but he hasn’t spoken to me much in the past two days… AITA?”
OP’s fellow Redditors were then asked to place the blame in the situation according to the following categories:
- NTA – Not The A**hole
- YTA – You’re The A**hole
- ESH – Everyone Sucks Here
- NAH – No A**holes Here
And a consensus rapidly emerged—when people could stop laughing along with the OP long enough to type out a response, that is.
“NTA, Gackson is asking for the kid to get bullied, though maybe you shouldn’t have laughed, but honestly I would’ve thought it was a joke too.” —Drasils
“Before I read it – I thought for sure it would be Jagson, had me giggling pretty hard, and then when you hit me with the gackson, and I just lost it.”
“Come ‘ere, Gack! I’m reading pronunciation like the old school nickelodeon slime” —Berty_Qwerty
“Gackson will be shortened to Gack, which is the sound a cat makes when they hack up a hairball.” —WeeklyConversation8
“One of the jobs of being a parent is to give them a normal name that doesn’t single them out in childhood for bullying or ridicule in adulthood.”
“You want something unique? Make it a middle name where they have the option of putting on their drivers license when they’re old enough.”
“Don’t f’k up your kid’s life at birth like that, just give a name like John and then you can get creative with their middle name.” —jhwyung
“I gackled when I read the title” —bfasterthanthat
“Seriously…so many of these sh*tty names topics lately.”
“Like, did the entire current generation of parents just forget what it was actually like being a kid, coming up with the cruelest nicknames possible for that one kid who had an unfortunate name?”
“And more importantly, did they forget that usually the end goal of having kids is to have them grow up and be a successful human and that having a dumb name is just one more obstacle on that path?” —calliatom
“I don’t personally like ‘creative’ spellings of names, like either just give your kid an actual unique name or if you want a ‘normal’ name just spell it normally, don’t do this half a** thing where they still have a boring and common name but it’s just spelled in a ridiculous way.”
“But I don’t think ‘he’ll get bullied’ is a reason not to name a kid anything, I really hate when people say that because the message is that you should just conform and give in to jerks and bullies instead of doing the harmless thing you want.” —DeseretRain
“yes, NTA you are doing a future person a huge favour. I hope he takes your laughter into grave consideration.” —bunganmalan
“Gesus, what a gacka**. NTA.” —SnubbyPears3144
“The laughing may have been a bit insensitive but come on…Gackson?!”
“Made me immediately think of Gack, the homemade silly putty from the 90’s, and I’m confident everyone else will pronounce it as Gack-son in their heads when they read his name. NTA” —NannyBismo
“Can confirm I’ve been reading it as Gack-son the entire time. Also, I have been laughing each time I read it that way.”
“Poor OP I would have laughed too” —brerosie33
“Gack is slang for disgusting in some parts of Ireland. To me he wants to name his kid ‘disgusting son’.”–FantaLemon11
“NTA. I feel bad for future Gackson for having to explain to everyone ‘no… its Gackson…. with a G’.”
“Hopefully you laughing in their face will make them reconsider.” —cycleski
“I like learning new names, and pride myself on pronouncing them all correctly no matter where they’re from or what they mean, but Gackson with a G?”
“Gackson with a G would have me piss myself laughing before I realized they weren’t joking. That kid is going to have a bad time.” —pledgeofmalfeasance
“Yeah, I think testing out possible names like that will get the same reaction as the kid will when he introduces himself. So if people laugh at some of your alternatives, maybe not name the kid that.”
“The mother should be thankfull for an honest reaction and think twice about that name.” —Batmogirl
“NTA. You stopped laughing as soon as you realised it wasn’t a joke, so you weren’t intentionally rude, and hopefully you’ve prevented some poor sod coming into the world with the name Gackson.” —SecretSnorlax
“Nooo. Poor kid. That’s Gak-son not Jackson.”
“Gack is like slang for crystal meth or something like that as well (among several other unpleasant noises like hacking up a hairball).”
“Talk to you friend, for the child’s sake” —Chelcsaurus-rex
It seems when it comes to baby names, there is such a thing as too much creativity.
While his friend can name their child whatever they want, the OP isn’t the a**hole for laughing. His friend should probably get used to it now.