Hate DD’s planned baby name. Is it ever ok to say that?

Question the name once or twice to your kids but then leave it and get used to adoring the child.

You could always call her aloud - My Sweet Io and My Io,

Mio is an option they might like.

It’s unusual but I quite like it.

No, I'm not. You're making something the point when it really isn't.

The OP:

They have chosen it for the Greek myth not after Jupiter’s moons. DD is a classicist and intends to call any other kids after Greek mythological characters. If this has been a boy he would have been Eryx.

Suggesting they "re read" the myth is unlikely to result in the outcome you imagine.

I think I would ensure she had re-read the full myth, and perhaps tentatively suggest something like Iona with Io as a nn.

Yes I think as a mum it’s perfectly fine to say.

People have got so precious about “my boundaries” and “ distance” with family that they are more like electric fences than boundaries these days.

In the case of an acquaintance or friend I was t super close to I’d say nothing, but my mum ( sister etc) would say to me and it wouldn’t trigger us going Nc! Imagine if later op found out one of the things discussed here and said to op “ you should have mentioned it.”

That said, nothing mentioned here would be enough to put me off the name if I’d settled on it; I think it’s really quite a nice name. Wouldn’t use it myself but that’s because I’m boring very traditional.

It is also a type of moth (quite a pretty one).

My Mum successful put me off some baby names and looking back I am so grateful to her. They were really bad choices, driven by hormones and I am relieved I didn’t make that mistake for my child!

But as pp said it depends on your dynamic and if your DD is happy to get your opinion and take your advice on things - or not.

Ayo (eye oh) very common shortened version of many African names.

I think it's fine to voice it. My mum was incredibly vocal with all my picked names. She would explain why some were revolting in great detail, and I found it amusing and I wanted her to like it. Depends on your dynamic I suppose!

😆

OP I agree. io is a terrible name for a baby! 😬

also known as Alexander.

Obviously, tracing names through their variations would demonstrate that all names are problematic. But we can't have that as selective outrage is so much more fun

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text

（Pa/ris), also called Alexander , was the second son of Priam and Hecabe.*

You could shorten it it O, delivered Nessa Style 😉.

My grandmother commented on my DS name. It wasn’t traditional and she’d never find anything with his name on. Thankfully the rest of my family shut her down (the name is in the bible and we’ve all found plenty of things with his name on) but I’ve never forgiven her for the judgment that came with the comment.

*Paris.

I do @SerendipityJane I realised too late to edit it. Thank you for the correction. I do, indeed, mean rape victim.

My favourite part of the Io myth is after she’s been turned into a cow, she goes to her dad and writes her name in the ground with her hoof so he knows it’s her. Very handy it’s only two letters! Imagine a cow coming up to you and starting to write something, and being like ‘Sweetheart , is that you?’

Yes to Ganymede. He’s referred to as Jupiter/Zeus’ “cup bearer” - such a great euphemism! 😂

You do know lots of women were raped in mythology, right? Cassandra - she was raped, as was Persephone. Do you go round telling women called those names that they were ‘named after a rapist’?

You mean rape victim. As already noted there appears to be far less anxiety about rapists. Alexander, for example, who abducted (generally classical shorthand for rape) Helen of Troy (this making Helen the name of a victim) kickstarting the Trojan war ....

Firstly Ɪo doesn’t rhyme with ‘heigh ho’ so it would be a stupid ‘joke’; secondly, what kind of parent would take the piss out of their child/grandchild like that; and thirdly, any name can be made into a ‘joke’ if you’re that way inclined.

You do know lots of women were raped in mythology, right? Cassandra - she was raped, as was Persephone. Do you go round telling women called those names that they were ‘named after a rapist’? Do you define women only by their rape or sexual assaults? And talk about blaming the victim!

@cryptide ,you are missing the point.

There is also the culture chasm.

Greek Gods and Heroes existed in the minds of the Greeks in a way they they don't in ours. People here are discussing "Io" in isolation from the entire theological and philosophical framework from whence it is taken.

I can't speak for the OPs DD, but it would seem like they do get this to a certain extent. And it seems to be that which some find noteworthy.

Also, we don't know if "Io" was in use before the legend arose. Did her parents just invent it ?

Why should anyone, even a mythological being, be defined solely by the fact that she was raped? If you had been raped, how would you feel if that was the one and only thing anyone remembered about you?

Also, I'm sure a lot of commonly accepted boys names have a slightly darker past for those who like a bit of melodrama.

For every rape victim, there is of course a rapist.

Zeus raped everything that moved. Rape is endemic. If we can't name our daughter's after rape victims there'd be no names left. 😭 As pps have said, a woman is more than what a man has done to her.