Drama over baby name.

[LuLuO]

Jinx! Buy me a coke!

 

[NYEmomma]

Well, whether I like a name or not, if that is the person's given name then that is what I call the person.

Those are the kinds of things that make parents not want to bring their children around to the extended family.

ITA!!

My DNephew's name is Edmund... it's not what I would pick for my son's name, but his parents obviously loved it so that's what I call him. And now the name makes me think of a cute little 4yo boy & not some burly Eastern European dude.

But my MIL decided she didn't like the name and would call him Eddie. NO ONE calls him that & his parents absolutely loathe that nickname. Despite their numerous attempts to correct her, she still persists in using Eddie and does so with such vehemence that we all know she's doing it just to tick off my poor BIL & SIL. Thankfully, none of us see MIL much, but the couple times a year that DN does, I'm sure in a matter of years he will be putting his grandmother in her place and informing her that is NOT his name.

 

[Gretchen]

My cousin named her daughter Castarion a few years ago. My aunt sent an email when she was born, saying her name was Castration. Everybody in the family was up in arms, of course, until we got the spelling right. Still didn't like Castarion, but everyone ended up calling her Cassie, which is cute. I learned from that to not waste my time worrying about what other people name their kids. The parents don't care what everyone thinks, and you'll get used it whatever the strange name is, believe it or not.

OMG I am in tears...."and here's our little one, Castration"
It's been along day...

 

[beaucoup]

Long story short, a friend of mine from high school just gave birth yesterday. The baby has an unconventional name that the mother completely made up- pronounced like Emily with an S. Yep, like Semily.

The father's family has been unsupportive throughout the whole ordeal since the parents are young and unmarried. Now that the baby has arrived, they are refusing to call her by her given name. They are calling her "Emily" instead.

It's not my issue (the mother is merely a friend) but I knew I could find some strong opinions here. Thoughts? What would you do?

Not mine either.

 

[Desnik]

I think it's the parent choice to name the kid what they want but I do wish some would think more of the child when naming them. But I do think that name is not bad at all and have heard much worse. I think it is rude and crazy that the father's family isn't calling the child by her name!

When DD was born a lot of people gave DH and I a hard time because of the name we choose for her. Her name is Destiny and at the time it wasn't that popular. My mother was the worse and tried really hard to get me to change my mind. I was going to give her the middle name of Oceana and my mother actually crossed it out when I put it on the birth certificate! I was so angry then but let it go.(I knew I had more fights coming when we choose not to baptize her and we both come from Catholic families so I gave in on the name, partially) I don't have a middle name and neither does DD and we have the same initials so it's all good.

 

[santa's surpriz]

This reminds of a funny yet embarassing story of own---when I was married to my ex, he had a brother that lived on the other side of the country so we did not see them much. There son had three first names and the inlaws hated it. They called him ACE for short, an acronym for his name. They came in town for the holidays and I had drawn their name for Christmas present exchange. I bought a welcome plaque for the front door, personalized with all the names. The sister-in-law opened it, loved it until she saw the names and proclaimed "who's ACE?" I was sooo embarassed. I had no idea that they did not approve of the nickname created by my in-laws.

 

[pigletgirl]

Semiliy? Are we not pronouncing it right? Sem-il-ee? Hmm, that is interesting.

 

[hambirg]

I'll be honest. . .I think people that name their kids jacked up names should get a beat down. I don't necessarily have a problem with unique names. . .some of them are very pretty. . or nice for a boy. BUT, I do think, as a parent, you need to have a lick of sense. Life is hard enough, and it's not fair for a child to go through life with the name Placenta. . .even if you think it is wonderful (I had a student named Placenta). It is really just CRUEL!!! And that poor kid doesn't have any say in just how stupid her parents are.

In your situation, I would just stay out of it. I do think that grandparents have special rights. If any of my kids decided to name their kid Anus (and yes, I know somebody that did that because they liked the names Angus and Amos) I sure as h*ll would be calling the kid Andy or something else! I'm not calling my precious grandchild Anus just because his parents are STUPID!!!! This is just IMHO of course.

 

[robinb]

Long story short, a friend of mine from high school just gave birth yesterday. The baby has an unconventional name that the mother completely made up- pronounced like Emily with an S. Yep, like Semily.

The father's family has been unsupportive throughout the whole ordeal since the parents are young and unmarried. Now that the baby has arrived, they are refusing to call her by her given name. They are calling her "Emily" instead.

It's not my issue (the mother is merely a friend) but I knew I could find some strong opinions here. Thoughts? What would you do?

I think that both your friend and her partner's family are immature. Your friend for naming her child a completely stupid trendee name and the "in-laws" for using a similar name for their granddaughter. What would I do? As a mom, I would not name my child a trendee name in the first place. If my DD named her child something I simply could not stomach I would try to come up with a nickname or just swallow my bile and use her given name.

 

[AKL_Megs]

I think "Emily" sort of IS a nickname for Semily... it IS in there. I know a woman named America who goes by "Erica" as a nickname.

I also have a friend named Michelle who goes by "Elle".

But, it is obvious the grandparents are doing this out of spite.

 

[disneyaddicted]

I wanted to name my son after my dad, Deforest, but my Dad talked me out of it and said I would be setting him up for a lifetime of stupid and over used jokes, my dads favorite..."Can't see de trees from deforest."

So Deforest is my sons middle name, he's proud to have his papa's name but grateful it's not his first name.

 

[disykat]

I think "Emily" sort of IS a nickname for Semily... it IS in there. .

I agree - and that's why I don't really think grandparents have the "right" to shorten a child's name. If they hate the name, just call her a non-name-related nick name like sweetheart. IMO, calling her "Semi" etc. without the parent's okay is pretty much the same as calling her "Emily."

I know as a grandparent, I'd really have to work to reign myself in on something like this- but I think it's important to do so. My first inclination would be to think of "Semolina" and go with "lina" as a nickname. At least it steers me away from the other thing I was thinking! At any rate - it would be WRONG of me to try and change the name and I hope if I get any obnoxious ideas someone close to me helps reign me in!

Pretty soon, "Semily" will seem totally normal!

 

[denisem]

Life experience has taught me two things:

1. A child with an unusual/made up name will be disappointed when they can't find a personalized keychain at WDW.

2. An unusual/made up name is a gift if one is skiptracing.

 

[NotUrsula]

I think that her parents have lost the right to complain when she hits her teens and lards her conversation with "like" all the time.

Honestly, grandparents do this ALL the time, especially in ethnically mixed families. My son got it from both sides. His paternal great-grandfather decided to switch his first and middle names because his middle name was Grandfather's name, and it amused him to pretend offence that he got second billing. Grandfather died when he was 9. My aunts shorten his first name to the same nickname that my Dad had as a boy; one that is more politically correct than the long form (DS is named after Dad.) He answers to it without complaint and just figures it's a quirk of elderly Irish ladies. My Dad used to call one of my nieces by a mispronounced version of her nickname -- again, because it amused him; it was like a little joke between them, and she still remembers it, even though he died when she was 8.

The odds are fair to middling that the young lady will grow up and decide to be known as Emily; probably because she'll get sick of being called Smiley. (You KNOW that a lot of people are going to assume that she is named after Miley Cyrus.)

PS: Disney makes personalized keychains in some of the shops; I got one for DD at DLR. Her name isn't trendee; it's just ethnic.

 

[castmember19]

The drama has ended. The mother has given the grandparents permission to call her baby "Emily." What was once deemed as rude and unsupportive turned out to be the grandparents inability to spell or say the name correctly. Lol. All is well.

 

[NMAmy]

The drama has ended. The mother has given the grandparents permission to call her baby "Emily." What was once deemed as rude and unsupportive turned out to be the grandparents inability to spell or say the name correctly. Lol. All is well.

I'm glad they've worked it out! I do have to wonder how she came up with the name. Is she a Twilight fan? It reminds me of that ridiculous name, Renesmee.

 

[teacup princess]

I could see my FIL doing something like this. I'm about to name our unborn daughter a unique family name from my side of the family. I'm not sure it will be a popular choice with my IL's because 1). it's different and 2). it's from my side of the family. I really could care less. They had their children and chose to name them all after kings and queens which I think is a stupid idea as well. But hey, that was their choice. If they chose to call her by another name that I didn't approve of I can definately say that our visits there would become few and far between.

 

[DeluxePrincess]

I think you should call a person by their name. If they don't like, tough. If a nickname comes up, fine.

 

[susykt4]

This reminds me of when I was pregnant with my first child, a girl, and was stupid enough to reveal her name to my mother before she was born. My husband and I couldn't agree on anything and finally decided on Kaylin. My mother hated the name and tried to talk me out of it. My favorite argument was when she told me that some guy high up in Chrysler in the 1970s was named Kawynn (no idea how to spell it) and that EVERYONE would think of that. Well, my daughter will turn 11 in two weeks and not one person has mentioned the Chrysler dude. Shocking, right?

 

[NYEmomma]

Life experience has taught me two things:

1. A child with an unusual/made up name will be disappointed when they can't find a personalized keychain at WDW.

I'm afraid I'm going to spend most of our vacation telling my daughter, "I'm sorry Violet, they don't have your name". I haven't found anything personalized up here that has her name on it (yet they have stuff for VINCENT?? Who the heck names their kid Vincent these days?? :dunno. I'm sure WDW will have a wider name selection, but it seems that Violet's still pretty rare at the moment.

At least it's not a made up name & is spelled properly!