Let’s say you’ve just announced the name you are going to call your child, and then your sister in law tells you she was going to use that name for her child, but she isn’t pregnant, and you had no idea up until this point she liked the name you chose, would you change the name or just keep it as is?
I was reading an article about the subject of ‘stealing baby names’, and was curious.
If I was completely unaware that she loved the name until after I announced I was using it, I would still use it. It takes most people awhile to settle on the perfect name so even if she loved it, it probably took some time on my part and my SO part to decide on it solidly enough to announce it!
That being said, if she was planning on using the name to honor a relative or something then I may be persuaded to keep looking or move that particular name to the middle name spot unless we absolutely couldn’t find anything else we loved. I would never use a name I didn’t love just to please someone else.
I agree with everything you’ve said, I’d do exactly the same as you.
Too bad. She isn’t pregnant, and even if she was, nobody owns a name. Use it in good health; if she objects, tell her that she’s being ridiculous.
I think the whole ‘stealing baby names’ thing is ridiculous 99% of the time, even more so if the other person isn’t even pregnant.
I also don’t think it’s a huge deal for cousins to have the same name if they don’t have the same last name and I’m assuming in this scenario they probably wouldn’t.
I 100% agree name your kid the name you planned. My only exception is if she has a massive significance to the name that you don’t have eg. It’s her dead mothers name. If not use it!
I hate this scenario because there’s no right answer. Of course, I’d still want to use the name I chose but not if my sister is going to use the name regardless. I was annoyed sharing my name with lots of people outside my family, and want to avoid that as much as possible with my kids. If they had to share their name with their cousin, then I’ve failed miserably. But it’s not fair for her to get the name if I’m pregnant.
Thankfully, at this point my sisters have very different naming styles than I do.
Well I see no problem in repeating names. I would definitely go ahead and use the name, compliment her on her great baby name taste, and tell her it’s fine by me if she wants to use the same name in the future. She may never have a child of that gender or may change her mind when the time comes. Or if she does end up naming a child that name, then at that time I might work out some nickname compromise to use within the family if necessary to avoid confusion. No need for name stealing drama! 