Family’s Unhinged Response To Their Baby’s Name Leaves New Mom & Dad Stunned

As parenting mores change, older generations are slowly but surely starting to learn that commenting on child-rearing is a no-no.

If only that understanding would extend to baby names, because that is one area where people seem to still feel entitled to share their opinions, over and over again. And in the case of one couple, it’s left them slack-jawed and furious.

A new mom and dad are stunned by their family’s unhinged response to their baby’s name.

Granted, there are a lot of weird baby names out there that are choices that pretty much invite other people’s opinions or at least their surprise. That doesn’t make it okay or polite to offer them, of course, but still … you name a baby something truly out there, people are going to comment.

But this couple’s story is not that story. 

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“I just had a baby this week,” the mom wrote in her Reddit post. “We were still in the hospital when we announced her name and got a slew of the usual responses that normal, sane people say when hearing about the name of a baby (‘what a lovely name!’). Because saying anything different is insane, right?”

Right! But that did not stop her husband’s family from going off the rails about their baby’s name — Rosa. Which is… a completely normal name?! Maybe not necessarily common anymore, but still. It’s a classic name! Little Rosa! 

But the way the dad’s family responded you’d have thought they’d named her after an evil dictator or a curse word or a piece of furniture or something. They truly went off the rails.

As soon as they told his family about their baby’s name, they started suggesting different options and asking them to change it.

Now, personally, if a family member were to tell me their baby’s name and I didn’t like it, I would simply pretend like I did, like a normal person. That’s just me, though. This guy’s family chose a different approach, which we will politely refer to as “extremely dedicated honesty.” Like, to a fault.

“My husband texts his family group chat,” the mom wrote. “His mother responds ‘No, I don’t really like that name. I much prefer Violet, what do you think about that?’ We were stunned.” Most of us would be.

“I simply cannot imagine being a family member who’s being INFORMED of a newborn’s name, and thinking you should have input,” the mom said, going on to write that her husband was “crushed” by the criticism, so rather than “have our first moments with our daughter marred by this comment,” they ignored his mother entirely.

It didn’t work. His mother kept calling relentlessly. Then his sister joined in, messaging “with several alternatives that she prefers.” Her husband’s mother even asked what the mom’s family thought of the name, and when told they loved it, she replied, “They must not have good taste. Nobody here likes it. Nobody.”

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Having a new baby is an emotional time and no one needs to hear their family’s unhinged response to their baby’s name or anything else, for that matter.

It really shouldn’t need to be said, but while the mother of a baby is recovering in the hospital is not the right time to be critiquing her parenting choices. Well, never is the right time, frankly, but you could not possibly pick a worse one than immediately after the birth.

For this mom, things were even more intense. Her baby had to stay in the NICU, and she lost so much blood giving birth she needed a transfusion. Amidst all this, her in-laws wanted to fight over the baby’s name?!

Childbirth is, on a purely medical level even if not a psychological or emotional one, a traumatic event. A woman’s body is beleaguered in the best case, most commonly torn apart in some form or another, and recovering from potentially deadly complications at worst. 

And emotionally, childbirth is a maelstrom. Everything from hormones like progesterone to a woman’s thyroid chemicals are zig-zagging all over the place after giving birth, which can create all kinds of emotional impacts. And that’s before we even get into things like postpartum depression or anxiety. 

Long story short: Leave new moms alone! As one Redditor put it, this woman’s mother-in-law “already named her children so her opinions … are zero percent wanted or needed.” 

That might be a touch harsh, but what new parents need after giving birth is support even if it comes only in the form of giving them space. And a name isn’t going to change anything about how much you love the baby.

Focus on the things that matter, like minding your own dang bus — er, I mean, like the love you feel for the new bundle of joy in the family!

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John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice, and human interest topics.