would you tell a friend that her new baby's name is used by some to refer to vulva/fanny/tuppence/girlie bits...

[FlyingInTheCLouds]

My mate is calling her little girl Minnie (she's now 10 days old).

I thought nothing of it, apart from the Minnie mouse/me connections until I mentionned it to a few friends who said that they used as a baby word for vulva/fanny {insert much argued over word of your choice here].

I had never come across this before but having re-read a few threads on this topic that some people do. It appears to be gaining in popularity.

So should I make my friend aware of this connotation of the name, in case it becomes like being called Fanny (as one of my aunts was much to our amusement as kids).

Or just leave it be.

Unless you are intending to say "Minnie? Oh, what a lovely word. I was looking for a new name for my genitals - you won't mind if I borrow it will you?"

Actually, the time for being offended would be in 5 years time when her dd is being teased at school and you say "Oh, yes, I knew this might happen, but I didn't like to say"

its the same as mary isn;t it - i know a few people who call theirs a 'mary'

I would mention it yes.
I have never heard minnie referring to fanny and I expect she will be grateful.

I think it would be bitchy to tell her - why make her feel bad about a name she is already using and obviously likes. If someone told me the name I had chosen was a euphemism for that kind of thing I would be pissed off - at the person who ruined the name for me that is.

Maybe minnie comes from the film An Education - he refers to it as that in the film.

But yellowflowers, why bitchy? She could change it now if she chooses to once she has the extra information.

I suspect that the use of the word predates An Education - my dd was using it at aschool 10 years ago!

Bitchy because if she is happy with it and your info might make her unhappy with it then the only consequence of you telling her is she feels rubbish about it, even if she pretends not to, we'd all feel rubbish if we thought other people thought we were calling baby after a vagina.

But she's going to find out sooner or later - and the baby was 10 days old when the OP posted - plenty of time to choose another name.

"Bitchy" means doing something unpleasant deliberately. I think it would be bitchy NOT to tell her, and to let her find out from aomeone else, not a kind friend.

Disagree - I think telling her is doing something deliberately unpleasant.

And why would she change a name. She has one and she likes it. You can only ruin it for her

Why would she change the name? Because, at the moment, she is, without knowing it, calling her little girl an name that is also slang term for the female genitalia that is commonly used among young children.

How would the OP feel if in a few years time the child comes home from school in tears and her mother says "If only I had known - I wish someone had told me"?

When we name another person, we need to take the responsibility for that seriously. The child is too young to consent, so they are relying on us not to do something daft. Like name us after a vulva. Or a penis. Or a breast. Or sexual intercourse. Sheesh - it's not rocket science!

I completely disagree Seeker. Imagine you have spent months pouring over name books and deciding what you like, maybe compromising with partner, finally settling on something you like. You have a new baby and you are hormonal and in love with it and the name - and someone comes along and says er, scuse me, you know your little girl is called after a vagina. Like so what, get over it. except forever more that 'friend' would be associated with the bad news, with ruining a name, with thinking she has any right to interfere. I mean quite frankly if the friend had called their little girl vagina it would still be nobody else's business. If she cared what others thought she would have posted on here or somewhere saying can anyone think of any reasons why I can;t call my little girl Minnie. That would have been the chance to say vagina.

No, the friend is forever associated with the fact that she didn't name her child something which could very well make her life hell when she's 5.

If the friendship can't stand it, then so be it. At least the poor little girl isn't going to go to school called Vulva - and that's the really important issue here - the child.

Actually, Vulva would probably be better - most of the kids won't know what that means. They will all know what Minnie means.

Ah well - we'll just have to disagree on this one Seeker. What have you decided to do Flyingintheclouds?

I'd mention it, for the reasons Seeker has said.

Stress that you personally think it is a very pretty name - really beautiful, but you mentioned the name to a 3rd party and that person mentioned that some children use the word as slang for fanny. Yoiu don't know how common it is - probably not common at all - but you just thought you'd mention it...

that way she has the option of playing it down if she wants to: "oh, I've never heard that, I'm sure its n ot common at all" etc, but if it concerns her she can look into it a bit more and re think the choice.