AITA for refusing to change my baby’s name after my sister announced she wanted to use it?

A Reddit user recently found herself in a surprising family conflict over her baby’s name. She and her husband had chosen the name Leo for their son, keeping it a secret until his birth. But when her sister announced that she planned to use the same name for her own baby, a disagreement began.

The sister claims she forgot the name had already been used, and now some family members are asking the original poster to either change her baby’s name or allow both boys to share it, but she’s reluctant to do so.

‘ AITA for refusing to change my baby’s name after my sister announced she wanted to use it?’

I (31F) had my first baby, a boy, three months ago. My husband and I had picked out his name, Leo, long before he was born. It’s a name we both love, and we didn’t share it with anyone until he was born to keep it special between us.

Recently, my sister (28F) announced that she and her husband are expecting their first child—a boy—and she was thrilled to tell everyone they’d chosen the name Leo for him. When I reminded her that my son’s name is already Leo, she seemed genuinely shocked, saying she “totally forgot” and thought it wouldn’t matter if we shared the name.

I gently told her that I wasn’t comfortable with our sons having the exact same name, especially since we’re close and the cousins would likely see each other often. She got upset, saying I was being territorial and that I don’t “own” the name. My mom is now asking me to consider changing my baby’s name or letting it go, so my sister can use it too.

I feel frustrated because this was the name my husband and I carefully picked, and now I’m being made to feel like I’m causing family drama over it. I’ve refused to change his name, but now some family members think I’m being difficult. AITA for not changing my son’s name, even though my sister now wants to use it?

Here’s the input from the Reddit crowd:

The_forgotten_child −  Your sister is being ridiculous. I would go the petty route and call the unborn baby ‘Leo 2’ A LOT. Like “How’s Leo 2? I can’t wait for Leo 2! Do you have a crib yet for Leo 2?” I reckon you won’t have to wait long for her to change the name.

dirtynerdy585 −  Whenever I see situations like this I always recommend changing your attitude and killing with kindness and talking about how excited you are for them but ONLY referring to their unborn son as “Sequel Leo” “Second Leo” “Leo jr” “Leo the Second” etc. and ONLY variations of that.

Any sensible person will end up seeing how stupid of a decision it would be and change the name before birth. And if not you just forever get to insult her intelligence lol.

NTA- I truly believe anyone who willingly chooses to name a close cousin the same name as another close cousin hasn’t fully thought out the baby living their own life beyond the baby phase and are s**fish individuals.

Freeverse711 −  NTA. But we all see who your mom’s favorite is.

According-Kiwi6403 −  your mom and sister are TAH. keep that babies name and tell ur mom and sister to go shove it. that is an insanely ridiculous ask and it is weird to name ur kids the same thing. i would never consider giving my baby the same name as one my siblings chose for theirs.

Fibro-Mite −  YTA for making up a story for karma. AI crap again. Usually in these stories it’s a cousin wanting the same name, or siblings arguing over a name while one is pregnant and the other isn’t even in a relationship, so hypothetically possible. But a sibling forgetting their nephew’s name? I call BS.

And that phrase “I gently told…” or, as is also seen in these BS AI posts, “I gently reminded…” is a dead give away. Even if we are actually gentle when telling someone they are being a d**khead, that’s not how real people describe it to others.

And no-one in the family thinks it’s a stupid idea to tell a parent to change the name of an existing child rather than tell the pregnant person to grow the f**k up? Yeah, never happened.

Impossible-Dark7044 −  First come first serve in this case… Plus how could your sister “forget” her baby nephews name. Sounds BS. But in no way should you consider changing it. If they end up with the same name who cares… Whats the worst that could happen, someone might think they have the same dad or grandparent or something.

RangeMoney2012 −  NTA – He is now 3 months old and now **legally** known as Leo, and only he can change it.

No-Personality5421 −  Sister is right, you don’t own the name, and she doesn’t need your blessing or permission to use it.Your mom is in the wrong, you shouldn’t have to change your baby’s name so that your sister “can have it”. A name isn’t property that someone can have or claim. You’re in the wrong because you think you own the name. She doesn’t need your blessing or permission. 

deathboyuk −  Yeah, you made this up. AI post.. Your punctuation is wild.. YTA for making s**t up, bot.

skorvia −  WTF?. Is this post real? Because I don’t understand how someone can expect to change the name of a child ALREADY born, to use that name on a child who is about to be born… that is, the child already has its LEGAL name. I’m surprised that the MOTHER of both also suggests changing the name instead of seeing how wrong the sister is. I smell a golden girl too. BTW NTA.