To call my child by their name

[Beaverdam]

My childs names is William. My friend has called her baby Will. Totally fine with me as he is her baby and i do not own the name.

However, i dont always refer to my son as William and sometimes just say Will. Friend is unhappy with this and thinks its odd and too simular to her sons name. My child is a year older than her baby so am i unreasonable to think that she should not have picked that name if shs was going to be pissed off about it being simular?

I have always used a shortened version of my childs name every now and then and dont see how she can act so shocked.

Friend needs to get over herself sharpish.

YANBU and she is batshit!

YANBU at all.

Your friends an idiot

Your friend needs to give her head a serious wobble. Call your son whatever you see fit.

Friend is bat (tick) shit crazy!

Yabu for calling a baby William tbh

'little willy' is what the baby William in our family got called 🙈 (his Dad was big willy! I kid you not)

Not unreasonable at all. I go against the mumsnet ‘you don’t own the name’ thing, I think it’s weird to give your child the same name as a close friend’s kid. There’s so many names, just choose something else!

Your friend is Cray Cray CRAZY!

Of course you are going to shorten your child's name. You can't not do it just because she doesn't like it. She should have thought of this before she named her child.

Call your baby whatever you wish. You are quite right in that your friend chose to use a similar name for her DS, and she now has to live with the consequences. I don't think it is unreasonable for her to surely appreciate that a child named William at birth might at some point in the future be known as Will, Bill, Billy etc.

YANBU. She doesn't own the name and cursor her son's name. The shortened version is very common, she should have expected it even if you did use it before her son was born. She needs to get over it. Shrug and tell her you've always called him that.

Next time she complains say "im sorry you're unhappy friend, but you did know his name a year before Wil was born" and repeat.

Thanks everyone. I just feel really awkward and now feel like i always need to use his full name. It feels so unnatural but at the same time i dont want to annoy her. Most names naturally do get shortened.

I can hinestly say that when she announced she was calling her child Will, i did not feel territorial over it all all.

Yeah she's being a dick, ignore her

Your friend is an actual idiot.

Your friend is insane.

Is her boy still a newborn (firstborn)? Could she be feeling like the shared name makes her baby feel less special, and so overreacting... and will probably calm down a bit about it in time?

Still insane though.

Your friend is being ridiculous. Just carry on doing what you want to do!

Kids at school will shorten his name. If she has a problem she should have chosen something else. My sons name is Joshua and I often call him Josh if a friend complained they named their child Josh after me and not to use it I would tell them I picked my sons name first.

Just plain silly with a name as popular as William. Tell her to call her child Bill.

William is a great name, its always going to be shortened to Will or Wills by some people. She is being very odd, she must have heard you call you son Will. You need to find a way of setting her straight, no need for you to feel uncomfortable.

😂😂 Bonkers, Will is a diminutive of William.

She's batshit

Tell her to get over herself.

DS2 has a similar traditional male name commonly abbreviated and I interchange between his full name and abbreviated name all the time without even thinking about it.