Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask DD2 to change her cat’s name

441 replies

busybarbara · 07/12/2019 17:15

I’m posting this on behalf of my DD who is too mortified. She’s expecting her own DC (my DGC) and had picked out a name that only a few of us knew. Let’s say it’s “Honey” (it’s not but just for example)

DD2 out of the blue has got a kitten and has named it Honey, of course.. Confused DD1 is mortified and has asked me to see if I can get DD2 to change the name of the kitten! AIBU to try to do this?

Yes I’ve seen all the “two names in the same family” threads and have no problem with it when it’s people but having the same name as an animal seems potentially offensive?

OP posts:
VanyaHargreeves · 07/12/2019 19:09

DD1 needs to give up the name, and move on. DD2 shouldn't be penalised for a unfortunate coincidence.

The fact that you have become involved suggests DD1 is a Golden Child who is used to her own way.

LilQueenie · 07/12/2019 19:13

My aunt has a cat and dog. Both myself and my cousin used their names. Not intentionally they just happened to be the same. No issues.

Beautiful3 · 07/12/2019 19:13

I think she's being unreasonable. Either use the same name or chose a different name.

RebootYourEngine · 07/12/2019 19:24

Was it a name dd1s dh chose? Was it a name that him and dd2 had chosen when they were together?

Cherrysoup · 07/12/2019 19:27

They won’t be in the same house much so I don’t see the issue. A friend adopted a dog with the same name as her dh and didn’t charge it. It was fine.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 07/12/2019 19:28

I'm named after my grandmother's old dog.

Thank god she named me after the Great Dane, if she'd called me after the GSD I'd be Tinkerbell to this day.

I've always liked Towser as a baby name - or Towsetta for a girl.

EvaHarknessRose · 07/12/2019 19:29

Tell your dd that you can ask but will have to explain why. And it might be ww3 if she refuses.

SonjaMorgan · 07/12/2019 19:33

Wow, just wow.

Stay out of it. Your DD1 has DD2s ex and now wants the name she chose for her cat.

rhubarbcrumbles · 07/12/2019 19:49

Their relationship is a little awkward though as DD1’s husband (and father of the child) used to be DD2’s ex

Talk about a massive drip feed. Keep out of it and let two adults sort it out for themselves. I thought DD#2 was a primary school aged child from your first post.

TitianaTitsling · 07/12/2019 19:53

now her sister wants to take the name of her new kitten as well for herself. Yes....is it likely dd1 knew about the name already for the kitten, and this is a faux 'mortification'?

IwantedtobeEmmaPeel · 07/12/2019 20:02

Suggest that your DD1's husband asks DD2 to change the name - I'm sure that will go down well.

SweetAsSpice · 07/12/2019 20:06
Confused
KatherineJaneway · 07/12/2019 20:07

Their relationship is a little awkward though as DD1’s husband (and father of the child) used to be DD2’s ex

DD1 needs to put up and shut up. No way any conversation about DD2's cats name will go down well.

Spamantha · 07/12/2019 20:07

I'm really grateful OP took the time to give us an example of what a name is. Would've been totally lost otherwise.

WhenOneDoorClosesAnotherOpens · 07/12/2019 20:11

Fluffycloudland77 Sat 07-Dec-19 17:48:35 He’s collected the set then?. I hope you haven’t got any other daughters.

LOL! Grin

AdelaideK · 07/12/2019 20:11

Really doubt this is true but what is wrong with DD1? Shock

Crunchymum · 07/12/2019 20:15

@busybarbara

So are you going to provide any more info?

Did the guy leave DD2 for DD1 or was it a casual thing several years ago and DD2 ended things? It makes all the difference to the advice I'd give.

LovePoppy · 07/12/2019 20:16

Stay out if it
Stay so far out of it.

If DD1 can marry DD2s ex, she can talk about a name (but she should suck it up)

WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles · 07/12/2019 20:20

On the Scale of Awkwardness, a cat and a child having the same name is perhaps Level 1. Fucking your siblings's ex (and then having a baby with them and asking for pets to change their names, via a third party) is edging towards an 9 (Level 10 at family parties perhaps).

Is DD asking you to intervene as you are, in fact, Peggy Mitchell?

#TeamDD2 here also!

WeBuiltCisCityOnSexistRoles · 07/12/2019 20:23

Oh and "He was a splendid cat and had a sensible man's name which suited him" - is it just me that imagines @Bluerussian to be a jolly 1930s woman with a sensible haircut and a very brisk manner? If OP is Peggy Mitchell, are you Matron of The Chalet School?

(I mean that admiringly not bitchily btw!)

Aaarrgghhh · 07/12/2019 20:23

Just stay out of it. If they barely talk then the kitten and the baby won’t be in the same room or around each other ever and there’s no issue. What’s more interesting is the sloppy seconds dynamic going on.

Sciurus83 · 07/12/2019 20:23

HOLY BACKSTORY BATMAN!!

Wallywobbles · 07/12/2019 20:26

My aunts dog had my name. After I came on the scene. I have outlived it.

Notodontidae · 07/12/2019 20:31

What a lovely story, you couldn't make it up. I knew a Golden Lab called Honey, and then of course there is Honey Rider from Dr No. Just tell DD it is a bit confusing for the kitten to have the same name, and call the cat Lucy

ChuckleBuckles · 07/12/2019 20:32

I feel like this might be a name liked by the ex/new husband, dd2 knows and has decided to get a kitten and claim the name to throw a spanner in the works

If she has I raise my glass to her, that is the kind of petty that amuses me. Still Mittens is not a great name for a grandchild is it?

Swipe left for the next trending thread