I just flashed back some years. My younger sisters were both pregnant and due within weeks of each other. The older of these two is, shall we put it politely, a bit rigid? (Read: utterly anal control freak.) Her initials, her husband's, and her son's are all the same, and she had chosen names (a first choice and runner up) for her soon-to-appear daughter that would also "match". The younger sister gave birth first, to a little girl, and she promptly "stole" my other sister's first choice of names. This was grist for The Control Queen's tooth-grinding mill for years. Then, as a sequel to "The Great Name Hijacking Plot", the same younger sister chose to name her next child, a little boy, with the exact same name as Control Queen's older son, right down to the unusual spelling and usage of nickname. When Control Queen got a puppy, and younger sis asked what she would call it, the terse response was "Why, are you pregnant?"

"The mind is its own place, and in itself, can make heaven of Hell, and a hell of Heaven"

freespirit61:

I just flashed back some years. My younger sisters were both pregnant and due within weeks of each other. The older of these two is, shall we put it politely, a bit rigid? (Read: utterly anal control freak.) Her initials, her husband's, and her son's are all the same, and she had chosen names (a first choice and runner up) for her soon-to-appear daughter that would also "match". The younger sister gave birth first, to a little girl, and she promptly "stole" my other sister's first choice of names. This was grist for The Control Queen's tooth-grinding mill for years. Then, as a sequel to "The Great Name Hijacking Plot", the same younger sister chose to name her next child, a little boy, with the exact same name as Control Queen's older son, right down to the unusual spelling and usage of nickname. When Control Queen got a puppy, and younger sis asked what she would call it, the terse response was "Why, are you pregnant?"

Great story!

When my second daughter was born, my next-door neighbor showed up at our door, very upset, b/c he and wife were trying to get pg and we had taken "their" name for their not-yet-conceived, potential daughter. We had barely spoken in 5 years aside from the occasional polite greeting, yet somehow we were expected to intuit their name choices. I said, "Give your daughter that name too--it's a great name!" But he was still upset.

Eventually, they had a boy and moved out of the neighborhood.

This is hilarious. Of course, in some cultures, such as Italian and Greek, it is traditional to name kids after the grandparents, so cousins with the same name are commonplace (As in My Big Fat Greek Wedding -- "Meet Nick, Nick, Nick, Nick, Nikki, Nick . . ."). I'm from a Greek family and only escaped this fate because my more Americanized mother thought it would be stupid to have two Marias (plus my grandmother) in the same family, and my cousin had already been named after my father's mother. My grandmother, however, is said to have been offended, and always preferred my uncle from that point on, and left him more money in her will (but my father didn't really care about the money).

But to choose a non-family name that is the same as a sibling's child does seem sort of passive-aggressive and weird. I think it's less of a concern with a friend's child because, frankly, who knows how long the friendship will last. I found that with my friends where the friendship was based upon having same-age children, the friendship sort of fell apart around 4th or 5th grade, when the kids stopped wanting to hang out together just because their moms were friends.

I can tell you from experience that the name "Sony-Rootkit" is unlikely to win your daughter many friends.

I'm sensing some sibling hostility on the part of younger sis. Seriously, that is just wrong. And it really sounds to me like she did it on purpose *just* to piss Control Queen off. Though, I *love* CQ's response. Made me laugh.

And, this is exactly why you don't announce the name until *after* the baby is born.

That was some story. People can get very uptight with the names they give their children. I have no plans on being pregnant for a while but my husband comes up with a new name a day.

I told him though that he can name as many children as he wants for now but I believe it is a jewish superstition not to tell the name of the baby until it is born.

Even when our immediate family had kids we weren't told the name until the night of the birth when my uncles went home and emailed or called us.

hardlyworking:

freespirit61:

I just flashed back some years. My younger sisters were both pregnant and due within weeks of each other. The older of these two is, shall we put it politely, a bit rigid? (Read: utterly anal control freak.) Her initials, her husband's, and her son's are all the same, and she had chosen names (a first choice and runner up) for her soon-to-appear daughter that would also "match". The younger sister gave birth first, to a little girl, and she promptly "stole" my other sister's first choice of names. This was grist for The Control Queen's tooth-grinding mill for years. Then, as a sequel to "The Great Name Hijacking Plot", the same younger sister chose to name her next child, a little boy, with the exact same name as Control Queen's older son, right down to the unusual spelling and usage of nickname. When Control Queen got a puppy, and younger sis asked what she would call it, the terse response was "Why, are you pregnant?"

Great story!

When my second daughter was born, my next-door neighbor showed up at our door, very upset, b/c he and wife were trying to get pg and we had taken "their" name for their not-yet-conceived, potential daughter. We had barely spoken in 5 years aside from the occasional polite greeting, yet somehow we were expected to intuit their name choices. I said, "Give your daughter that name too--it's a great name!" But he was still upset.

Eventually, they had a boy and moved out of the neighborhood.

Hardly working, your neighbor has definite social problems. What a twit. Who in the hell has "must have" names for a baby that may or may not come along? I'll bet he still doesn't have a girl!