To be angry over a name

[Barbie46]

My baby is 6 months old and we named her a very uncommon name that was special to us. Recently we met an old friend of my husband's, they are still in the same circle but not close friends anymore. He asked us the usual questions about a new baby including her name. He and his partner had a baby in the last few days and called their baby our daughters name.
He did not mention anything about her name when we told them it and I am feeling irrationally angry that they have used our daughters name.

They’re not that close if your DD has got to 6 months before you’ve even told them her name.

A friend of mine named her daughter the same name as my name, and her other daughter the same name as my sibling. I don't think it was on purpose, she just likes the names. I'm not angry, actually I'm really pleased :) They r only names! Feel flattered! You'd never ever name a child the same name as someone you didn't like, or their children's names.

Renly is a game of thrones character! (Just cos someone mentioned it)

op my kids both have names native to my family’s country and yet still!! My son started preschool and I took my newborn daughter and a lady walked up with her 3 year old and asked me what I’d called her.. when I told her she looked at me like I was taking the piss and introduced her 3 year old with the same name!

then my daughter started school many years later and I met a mum with a boy the same age as mine with the same name. It just happens and it isn’t a big deal at all. ‘Uncommon’ names are just as attractive to other parents as they are to you

I hate to be the one to break to you but there are 8 Renlea's on Facebook.

Completely irrational I’m afraid, you need to get over this before you think about it too much and you drive yourself mad. You are being completely illogical.

It is a name.

It is US in origin. It means beautiful, powerful, kind heart.

Yep, I found at least 6.

I’m waiting for ‘what do you all think about the name Renlea?’to appear on the baby names pages 😂

I am feeling irrationally angry that they have used our daughters name

You are correct - it is irrational

Ha that’s what I thought!

Even if she did she still can’t stop others using it.

It must be annoying but you’ve got to let it go as there’s nothing you can do about it. In a couple of years there might be lots of them if others like the name too.

Erm....cough cough. Check out my username!!

I'm not happy with you OP. You've used my name.

This happened to me when I was trying to create an email account. In tbe end I had to add a number to the end.

It seems that it was not the first time this had happened, in fact I am number 87!

Could you do something similar to create a unique name?

There are roughly 140 million births each year. Your precious bundle is far from unique. There will be some repetition of names.

It's Xzayvian.

This wasn’t funny the first few thousand times 🙄.

It is! There’s one on FB & it’s a name on a census from the 40’s

www.ancestry.com/1940-census/usa/Oklahoma/Renlea-Baughman_3293c8

Did you have it copyrighted? Seems unreasonable to be angry about it. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness. - Oscar Wilde.

You can be as angry as you want OP but it changes nothing- so why bother. Ultimately how you frame it is your choice and it can still hold the same meaning that it did prior. You liked the sound of a baby name and so did they, oh well. They will have their own reasons for liking it which are just as valid to them and that is ultimately all that matters and all they have to justify.

Even hearing the name it doesn't sound like it's anything new. I used to teach and have known a Renley before (not my own class but a child in a split year group was called this) and whilst I don't care either way and don't condone taking the piss out of anyone's name, it was something that got made fun of in the same vein as all the other combination or 'unique' spelling names often did.

I myself changed my entire name as an adult I disliked it so much, it didn't make a shred of difference to me that my parents lovingly chose that or it was sentimental or anything else.

Could be worse, my cousin named his kid the same first name and middle name to my son.

Cousin on my dads side so same first, middle and surname.

No I don’t own the name blah blah blah, but I was absolutely fuming and two years on I still am. It’s weird and people constantly comment on it or take the piss.

In light of the popularity of Wren at the moment, there's some mileage in this.

Wrenlea
Wrenleah
Wrenlee
Wrenleagh
Wrenleay
Wrenleigh

PS I've copyrighted them all. Apply for a license to use @Trez1510 👍

It's absolutely fine to "copy" names from acquaintances, but I do actually think that you having made it up change things - did you tell them that you made it up and the reason behind it? Maybe they heard it from you, looked it up and liked it. I would feel weird in their place though if they come to learn how you got to it.

One of the nursery mums named her younger child a beautiful name I had never heard. I love it, as does DP. Aside from our own child's name, it's the only name we have ever both liked. If we have another boy, I'm pretty confident that we would use this name. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, even if me and nursery mum were friends. It's something like 3,500 in the 'popularity charts' so the mum would almost certainly know that I first heard it from her. You hear names from all sorts of places, including from other people. But I did look this name up, and it's an uncommon but old regional name. If it were something unique made from their family members and I knew this, I wouldn't use the name.

Thanks for all your replies, even if some of them were brutal for my first post on Mumsnet. Guess here is not the place to rant, but I've definitely simmered down so thanks ☺️

Well done OP for taking it on the chin 🙂