A father shared his frustration over his wife picking an ‘overhyped’ baby name he ‘hates’ for their new child.
Tom* and Eve* already have a son called Finley, and they are currently pregnant with a baby girl.
Eve is set on the name ‘Emily’ for the bub, but her husband revealed he has a visceral reaction at the thought of his daughter being named something so ‘common’.
‘We’ve run into a problem on names,’ Tom wrote on Reddit. ‘My wife always wanted an Emily. She has loved that name for years, while I have always disliked it very strongly. I’m not sure entirely why.’
He shared that he knew a lot of Emilys and ‘always found the name overhyped’, whereas it was ‘pretty’ and ‘amazing’ to his wife.
A father shared his frustration over his wife picking an ‘overhyped’ baby name
Tom provided more context on the couple’s baby naming journey.
‘My wife championed the name the first time we sat and discussed names for our daughter. She was so upset when I said no. She asked me if anything could change my mind and I told her, “honestly, I didn’t think so”.’
Eve tried to compromise with the name ‘Amelia’ or ‘Emilia’, but Tom wasn’t fond of those, either.
‘I do like Amélie. It’s really the only version of these names that I do like. But the pronunciation I and many people around me use (including some French people) sounds so different to Emily/Amelia,’ he said.
‘My wife doesn’t like the spelling and pronunciation issues that would come with Amélie and I understand that.’
A mum is set on the name ‘Emily’ for the bub, but her husband ‘hates’ it
Eve is still ‘having a hard time move on from Emily’ and constantly asks her husband to explain his reasoning.
Tom added, ‘I talked without sounding too harsh about the name and she grew frustrated and told me it’s popular for a reason.
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‘When we discussed it another time, just a few days ago, she told me I was being stubborn and unfair because I told her I just can’t get behind the name Emily for our daughter.’
Many weighed in on Tom’s dilemma, claiming he was valid to veto the name.
‘You don’t like the name. Instead of moving on, she’s becoming fixated and it’s weird. There are literally hundreds of thousands of other names out there,’ one said.
‘Tell her to make a list of five names she loves and you will pick one. She can’t just have one name and expect that will be okay. It’s your baby too,’ another suggested.
But others slammed him for being ‘selfish’.
‘She’s the one giving birth, let her pick the name,’ a woman said.
‘Your wife offered you a compromise which you said no to,’ another pointed out.
‘Emilia is less common, and you can’t think of another reason why you don’t like Emily. I’d say it’s a fair compromise because it’s not popular, but your wife still loves it because it is similar to the name Emily.’