After the young woman reveals the controversial title in question and the touching justification for the nickname, Reddit shows support for speaking out against it.
Baby names often generate dramatic criticism on Reddit… and this little girl’s story was no exception.
Taking to the site’s popular AITA (“Am I the A–hole”) forum, one girl revealed how speaking out against her sister-in-law’s deliberate name for her future baby angered her.
Although the rationale behind the title was heartbreaking, the OP (aka “the sole author of the post”) still felt compelled to advise her brother and sister-in-law against the choice, which led to feelings of hurt and family discord.
Read on to see how it all went down, as she asks herself, “AITA for telling my sister-in-law how I really feel about her son’s name after she asked?”
Children’s Drama Title
Establishing her post, OP defined herself as a 28-year-old woman with a 35-year-old sister-in-law she called Ana. SIL is 8 months pregnant and, according to OP, has had three previous miscarriages and had to terminate a pregnancy that was deemed “non-viable.” OP and SIL are married to two brothers.
“Her pregnancy is taking a huge toll on her, she has had terrible morning sickness and pre-existing medical conditions that have gotten worse and she is on medical leave,” wrote OP, who “offered to plan her baby shower since she couldn’t, and offered our house to her and BIL since it was mostly family and a few friends I know through her.”
While the newborn’s shower was “a success” and Ana was “really happy with the outcome,” things changed when OP’s sister-in-law and brother-in-law revealed the name they chose for the baby.
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“They want to name the newborn 5 because the number is the amount of years they tried to conceive and it took 3 miscarriages and a miscarriage,” OP wrote. “Anna mentioned it is a reminder of her son’s older siblings.”
OP shared that she then “expressed in private after (the SIL) requested what I thought was the title that might not be as symbolic to their son or daughter when they grow up to understand what it means.” She added, “I said the word ‘burden’ which caused Ana to get really upset and walk away, and my brother-in-law adopted it.”
Later, her brother-in-law called her and mentioned that she “made Ana cry and ruined the newborn’s bath”, along with her comment about the title.
“My husband agrees with me about title 5, however, he feels it wasn’t our place to say anything and that Ana and her brother have been through a variety of infertility struggles and that I should just let her have the title as there are worse names she could have chosen,” OP concluded. “5 is a unique title, however, I was just trying to level the meaning of the title they chose and the implications of it.”
Reddit has OPs again
The post has since received an official “Not an Asshole” badge from Redditors.
“NTA. This title WILL be a burden to bear. Each time the child will invariably be asked ‘5 is such a catchy title, how did your parents name you that?’ They should kindly respond, gosh, the story goes that they named me 5 because they had three miscarriages and a miscarriage of a non-viable pregnancy… over and over again in their lives,” began the most popular response.
“Why would his lawyers theoretically WANT this to happen every day for the rest of this young man’s life? Great first date material,” they continued. “It’s dumb and, while overly dramatic, is a focus in pursuit. But it’s the poor kid who will get through and get attention, but his sister-in-law needs it.”
Another person responded to this answer, including: “That poor kid is going to be very disheveled if his parents can’t learn to deal with their grief in a healthier way.”
Another person mentioned that the title is “an homage to (SIL’s) trauma,” saying that while they couldn’t “think about the pain she went through,” she also “shouldn’t project that pain onto her poor daughter.”
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If they do go ahead with the title, another Redditor recommended that the kid “just let people know my name was a nod to The Umbrella Academy,” because all of the characters have numerical names in both the comic and the TV adaptation.
“Perhaps OP should recommend to her in-laws that they name the newborn Quentin. It means ‘fifth’ but doesn’t have the obvious downside of having to explain to everyone why that name was chosen,” suggested another person, as another commenter identified that Quinta Brunson is named that way because she is the youngest of 5 children.
“I wasn’t called Three, but my parents always talked about the babies they lost before me, and that was hard enough for a child,” another reader added. “I can’t imagine being called that for the number of babies lost.”
What do you think?
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