Umm, what a dick move?

[user1497545304]

This is probably the definition of a first world problem but...

SIL and I got pregnant around the same time, and she's just had her baby girl. I'm due in a couple of weeks.
Before I even found out I was having a girl, I had my heart set on the name Elle - I even posted a thread about this! Me and SIL are close and she knew very, very well about this.

After much deliberation, I helped SIL decide on the name Mia for her baby.

Went to visit her and new baby in hospital this morning, where she announced that her baby looked like such an ELLA that she just had to screw Mia and go with that. I didn't say anything but I wanted to throttle her

Umm, wtf? SIL knew very well that we were going with Elle, and now we can't! Elle and Ella are just TOO similar, let's face it.

I am extremely pissed and also upset! I trusted SIL like a best friend. She's always been very aware of people's feelings.

Just rang up my mum, and was told I was being 'bratty' and 'overreacting'.

I would never dream of doing what SIL did, though!

AIBU?

What were your other name ideas?

And MN has just proven why you don't share a name before a baby is born.

The comments on your daughter's name are cruel and heartless. I think people forget that you may spend months choosing a baby name and to then "lose" it to someone else is hard.

Name your baby Elle anyway. It is what you wanted.

Call your little girl Ellesbeth. Sorted.

My cousin and I are Emma and Emmie. My sil is Alice and her cousin is Alicia.

Just do it

Belle?

Adele?

No-one bats an eyelid

Clearly OP is batting more than an eyelid

It's bloody rude!!

(I agree Elle Ellie Ella blah ..:: boring now ... find a fresh name )

Ella is a lot nicer . Just Think of a different name . Or stick with Elle. No one will care

As an aside, I would call her Eleanor or something rather than just Elle. But stick to a name you like and if your SIL asks just say 'oh but you knew I was going to name her that. Why did you call yours Ella if you minded the names being similar?' and just feign confusion.

I don’t see them as the same name really, so I don’t get the ire. Yes they’re annoyingly similar but Ella and Elle are never going to get confused even if they are together.

Ella is such a commonly used/ubiquitous choice atm that I don’t think you can accuse your SIL of “stealing” the name when it’s hardly that unusual in the first place. Mia’s the same- she obviously just likes very trendy names.

Call your little girl Ellesbeth. Sorted

Actually, Elspeth is a lovely name. And could be Elle for short.

This wouldn't bother me in the slightest. I would just carry on with my life and name my child as I saw fit. Who actually cares?

My best friends kid is called Imari and we will be calling ours Amarie..shes not bothered, if anything she's thrilled. We know they're similar but we are not changing the name as they're hundreds of people who share same names....

This stood out to me:

"I helped SIL decide on the name Mia for her baby."

Sounds to me like she was never that keen on Mia, prob wanted Ella all along. Which is fair enough really. Call your own DD whatever you like. Maybe she'll 'look like' another name when you meet her.

It is literally irrelevant what anyone else chooses to call their baby. Call your baby whatever name you love. Yes it's a dick move, but it's hardly the end of the world and I think it sends a far stronger "fuck you" message back to your SIL by keeping your baby's name and not changing it.

Tell her you've called your baby Mia and see how she reacts.... Normally I err on the side of "no one owns a name" but given that you're close and have talked about it at length then yes it is a bit of a dick move.

Call her Elizabeth, Eloise, Eleanor, or something similar, and call her Elle for short.

I do think Elle is more insubstantial as a name than Ella, honestly. And I say that as someone who has a name which can be shortened to Elle.

I’d call her Elle Mia myself.

YANBU. It's a shitty thing to do.
When she comes to visit you and your new baby is say "As soon as we saw her we just knew she was an Ella. Hope you don't mind".
Piss her off for a couple of days before you "change your mind"

Wow, I didn't expect all these replies!
I've calmed down now a little and I can see that, yes, I didn't own the name, but it still seems a really shitty thing to do!! Glad I'm not being TOO unreasonable. Also, have come to realise that my brother had a say in this too.

She can't have 'forgotten' about Elle, it's practically all I've talked about the entire pregnancy!

Should I say anything, or should I just keep quiet and name my DD Elle anyway??

Still think that Elle and Ella are too similar!

Don't call her Elle. It's my name. I was called Smell or Smelly at school for YEARS. My brothers doing, mind 😂

Call your little girl Ellesbeth. Sorted.

Sorry, misread that as Ellesbelles :-)

At least when she's six months old you won't be talking about Elle's teeth.

wellthatsembarrassing What did you call your cat??

I never discussed Baby Names... when I was pregnant