To want people to calm my baby by his actual name?

[SimGuruRu]

Name change as outing. To avoid the inevitable “what’s his name” replies ... he’s called Brian, hence outing.
He’s 6 weeks old and friends and family seem unable to call him by his actual name. They make up stupid names for him “baby Bobo” for example, I’ve had people literally snigger when I say his name. MIL has outright told us it’s an awful name for a baby and she can’t say it without laughing.
I’ve told DH I’m getting to the point where I feel if people can’t call him by his name maybe they shouldn’t be seeing him?! He thinks this is an overreaction and that I’m being too dramatic. They are going to make him grow up hating his own name.
AIBU?

Interesting...

www.thesun.co.uk/uncategorized/14883217/mum-rages-call-son-name-awful/

There are an unbelievable amount of kids called Harry, Oliver, Noah, Alfie and Freddie running around - think they will be unimpressed their names are so common in years to come.

Please don't be upset by the responses OP. Brian is a lovely name and it has family significance for you which makes it all the more special.
I can't believe posters have criticised the name, completely uncalled for and pathetic, grow up.

I know 10yo called Brian. Other kids have no issue with his name, although I've known adults raise an initial eyebrow.

I actually like it as a name.

Christ the sun were quick off the mark!

And we don't at all think the sun planted the thread to report on at all?

No idea. Bit desperate if they did. Hardly a ground breaking story!

Some absolute cows on this thread. This isn't a situation where the OP is throwing out names she might like to call her baby, where shooting them down might be considered ok, but her child is here and named. Some of you need to get a grip on yourselves 🙄

Have people forgotten there is an actual baby involved here and decided to be rude about his name?

Brian?

You’re wondering why they can’t say it without laughing or make up cutesy nicknames...?

It’s normal to call babies cutesy names and I don’t see how they can shorten Brian to anything that sounds soft and cuddly?

I’m sure he’ll grow into his name in time but I think if you choose a name like this you accept the reactions to it. I’d be less worried about babyhood and more how it might impact him at school.

I know a baby Brian. Thats what everybody calls him. ''Baby Brian''

@Notimeforaname

I know a baby Brian. Thats what everybody calls him. ''Baby Brian''

That seems sensible and also cute.

I got a great piece of advice from a lecturer when doing my A Levels. It was ‘Answer the question that’s on the exam paper; not the one you were hoping to see’. I think a great many posters on this thread would benefit from following that advice.

The OP didn’t ask and doesn’t care what you or I think of the name Brian. She doesn’t even care what her MIL thinks of it. She asked if she’s being unreasonable to be angry that the MIL won’t call the child by that name, and has indeed said she can’t do it without laughing. And the answer is no - of course she isn’t being unreasonable. The MIL is being a bitch.

@SavingsQuestions

And we don't at all think the sun planted the thread to report on at all?

Well if they did, they cocked it up, because The Mirror - their biggest rival - shared the story first.

@BeneathYourWisdom we’re not all 40+ on here

Younger generations, including mine and his, don’t hold the same prejudice against “Brian” as you do. There will be zero impact on him at school as none of his peers will care or even realise what is “wrong” with his name. Times have changed and your experiences aren’t at the forefront anymore unfortunately.

Exactly @mooonstone. People keep saying he’ll be teased because of Life of Brian, but it’s the parents’ generation and older who’ll have that connotation. What five year-old will have heard of it in 2026?

@MindtheBelleek

She posted on AIBU, asking whether she was being unreasonable to say that if people can’t call her newborn by his actual name, and to stop sniggering and laughing outright to his name, they don’t deserve to see him. She volunteered the name, as she clearly thought it was important.

People’s responses on here, however rude — and some have been pretty unpleasant— are arguably relevant to the responses the OP has had from her family.

No, the replies criticising the name are completely irrelevant to what the OP asked.

They're just plain nasty.

WTF is wrong with the name Brian?!

It’s a fine name.

Anyone with a differing opinion should just shut up about it. Honestly, just because we are anonymous doesn’t mean we have licence to be rude or hurtful.

@StillCoughingandLaughing thank you!

You’re absolutely right. I’m in my early 20s and had to search the internet for Life of Brian as I haven’t even come across it before! The people who are saying that he will trouble making friends or applying for jobs are tone-deaf.

I don't understand the problem! Every adult man named Brian was once a baby named Brian

[quote mooonstone]@StillCoughingandLaughing thank you!

You’re absolutely right. I’m in my early 20s and had to search the internet for Life of Brian as I haven’t even come across it before! The people who are saying that he will trouble making friends or applying for jobs are tone-deaf.[/quote]
It’s a good film - highly recommend it (but I’m old...)

OP fwiw I like Brian and know an adult one who is one of the loveliest people I know. I think you’re more than within your rights to call people out for being so rude. It’s not their name so f all to do with them.

I’ve spent my life wondering who names a baby Brian, and now I know! Cheers OP.

(YANBU to be annoyed, YABU to consider not letting people see Brian unless they address him properly. He’s a baby and doesn’t care.)

I'd like to know what all the rude posters have called their children.

Hilarious hatred for Brian when people are actually seriously calling their babies the likes of Stan and Alf.

Anyway, I called my daughter what was then considered an old lady name 33 years ago when it wasn’t a thing, and some people were horrified. Now I’m horrified because it comes up on virtually every names for a baby girl thread on here. They all come around.

@BeneathYourWisdom

Brian?

You’re wondering why they can’t say it without laughing or make up cutesy nicknames...?

It’s normal to call babies cutesy names and I don’t see how they can shorten Brian to anything that sounds soft and cuddly?

I’m sure he’ll grow into his name in time but I think if you choose a name like this you accept the reactions to it. I’d be less worried about babyhood and more how it might impact him at school.

FFS, nobody at school will care.