Husband cousin's named her twins like my children ?!

[Elsafairly]

Hey everyone

Here's my dilemma, my husband's cousin who lives 10 minutes away and who see at least one a week ( She is his only family left) had two gorgeous babies , a boy and a girl she named Ayaan and Issa. The same name I chose for my daughter (5) and son (8 months) I am really sad about it, those names reflect my culture ( I am from Ethiopia, and DH is English). So I feel like two little blonde babies with those name is a bit odd, or at least she could have asked me some advices on culturally similar names. My husband is mad at me, and think I should be flattered. But I am struggling to do so. I have not told her anything, and I will not. But now we gonna have 4 cousins with the same names, who will spend a lot of time together... Do you think I am being unreasonable ?

You will have lots of people tell you that “you don’t own a name” but in reality, what your husbands cousin has done is weird on more than one level. I would be narked.

The EXACT same names?!?
Yes, that is weird.

That is really weird, are the names exactly the same?!?

I’d be asking straight out why???

No you don’t own a name but that’s plain weird. I’d have to say something x

They are exactly the same name, with the same spelling. I have not seen them yet, but seen her facebook post.

Are those the real names, OP? You might want to ask MN to delete them if so.

Of course she's being unreasonable and I've no idea why your husband's angry with you - his cousin sounds unhinged.

The exact same names as your children from a completely different cultures is beyond belief.

What on earth was going through her head? Absolutely bizarre behaviour and I would be fuming.

I'd be furious especially as you say, that they are Ethiopian names and her children are British with no connection to Ethiopia.
That is really odd behaviour and I'd be really upset.

Yeah, she's a fucking lunatic. It's not like you've both named your kids Archie and Emily, the names you have chosen are culturally significant to you!

I'd be having words and those words would probably be "what the absolute fuck??"

Very outing as the names are so unusual. But it is wierd and l wouldn't blame you for being mad. If your dc were grown up it might be ok. She must have huge confidence oroblems that she couldn't find her own names.
Lovely names though!

I think that's really weird. And I'm a fully paid up member of the 'no one owns a name' club, and in fact one of my children has the same name as my cousin's child.

But those are very specific names for someone to copy.

I would be upset, are you sure it’s not a joke or a mistake?

I know I don't own names, but being so close it is just beyond annoying to have our children named the same. I could not care less if the estranged woman next door picked it. Those names have a special signification for me. I am also unhappy that she did not tell me previous the birth to tell me that she was planning to use those names. I was there her whole pregnancy, discussing names. My husband thinks it's cute and shows how much she loves us, and wants our children to have a special bond forever. So I started thinking that I am making a big deal of out it, here's why I decided to post on the forum. To have unbiased opinions

TBH OP I would call her out on it.

That is so weird

That is so incredibly weird, and, considering the cultural differences involved here, really not OK! I’m not sure what you can do about it really, but rest assured you won’t be the only one who knows your two families thinking this is totally insane and actually quite inappropriate.

PigeonPresent I am sure it is not a joke, she posted on fb their bracelets and baby blankets with those names... And announced to everyone on facebook

That is very weird.

What the fuck!? I would be absolutely furious!

It’s really very odd.

It’s particularly odd given that they are twins. As a twin parent myself I know that we tried hard to make sure that our children would have their own specific identities.

Hard enough to be one of the “twins” without being “one of those cousins called X.”

Very, very odd.

Yikes! Defininitely call her out on it. Have their names been registered yet? If not, I would try to convinc her to change them. I can't believe your DH isn't more supportive of you .

Very strange behaviour! I’d have to say something!

It's weird, but other people will see that too.

There's probably not much you can do now to change her mind, although you could try calling them Ayaan 2 and Issa 2 (Arrested Development style).

Perhaps she just panicked under the pressure of having to name twins and felt she had to come up with something there and then.

Yeah it's really odd! But I'm not sure what calling her out on it would achieve. If someone is of the mindset that naming their twins the same as their cousins is okay, I doubt they will suddenly become reasonable when called out about it...

Leave it. Noone is going to think you're the strange one. You'd do well here to rise above it.