Coming up with a moniker for your little one is an emotionally charged and often exhaustive decision. Once your heart is finally set on a name for your baby, come heck or high water, you're sticking with it. So imagine how absolutely torn up one soon-to-be mom was when she found out that her sister-in-law stole her baby name — and gave it to her cat.
The mom-to-be is 7 months along in her pregnancy and already knows exactly what names she's going to pick if it's a boy or a girl.
"For a girl; Charlotte Olivia. For a boy; Charles Alexander," she shared on the Am I the A–hole forum on Reddit.
Both names are based off her great-grandmother's name -- Charlotte.
The Original Poster (OP) didn't know her very well "but she was my grandmother's hero," she wrote.
The OP was so excited about her chosen names that she decided to tell her family about them early.
She's supposed to be having a girl, so most likely the baby's name would be Charlotte.
Her sister-in-law knew about the mom's baby name dreams.
Recently, it was her 5-year-old niece's birthday and her SIL bought her a kitten. So cute! Until the OP learned the kitty's name.
"What was this kitten's name? Charlotte."
"I don't even think it sounds right on a cat but that’s my biased opinion," she added.
The OP lost it -- that was her baby name.
She started crying and left the room, "but it was too late and mostly everyone saw," she recalled.
"If I was earlier on I'd get it but she knew the plans and it feels spiteful," she explained.
Now the OP has to change her baby name to Caroline.
But it's not the same.
"I've been getting texts from my SIL and brothers saying I'm an a–hole for turning my niece's birthday into something toxic and that it's just a name and I'm being manipulative," she continued.
"I haven't texted back because I'm hurt but I'm wondering Am I the A–hole?"
People couldn't get over her SIL's strange power move.
"It was a [expletive] move naming the cat Charlotte knowing you had picked the name for your baby," one commenter wrote. "However. I would still name the baby Charlotte. It's the name you want."
"Naming the cat after someone's great-grandmother is plain weird of her," someone else agreed. "And don't [let] it get to you. Ignore it. Name your daughter Charlotte Olivia. And if anyone comments that SIL has a cat by that name, just laugh it off and say that it did seem strange she'd pick that name for a pet cat, knowing that you'd already picked it for your daughter."
A third person put it this way:
"No one will care about the cat's name. You picked the name first and they stole it. I would go ahead and name your baby Charlotte. They sound like they are trying to bully you for some reason."
A few people thought she was overreacting.
Everyone sucks here, one person chimed in. "Her for stealing the name and you for making such a big deal of it. You can still keep the name there's no law against someone having the same name as their cousin's cat."
"In all honesty I think first of all you jumped to conclusions way too fast," a second person agreed. "It’s very feasible that they chose the name charlotte simply because they liked it for the cat and not out of spite towards you."
"Second of all," the person continued, "I think this is an overreaction, especially at your nieces birthday — if anything after the party and her birthday you could've just expressed why you’re unhappy. By leaving the party crying, it made her day more about you and your future baby rather than her and her kitten which to me is selfish."
"Really? You’re changing your daughters name over a cat?" a third person wrote. "Really? Just name your kid what you want. Your being very over dramatic. You're the A–hole. Regardless of your sisters intention, it's just a cat. It's not a giant sign of disrespect that sullies the name."
Later in the thread, the mom wrote that she's changing her daughter's name because it's just easier.
"I can't deal with years of being guilted about stealing SIL's cat name which is what will happen," she wrote.
If there's one thing we know for sure, the mom should not give up on her dream baby name. It's important that she stick to her guns and not let her family steamroll her.
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