Godmother stole my son's name

[MagsMaggie]

My baby son's Godmother recently had a baby boy and called her son the EXACT same name as my son, her Godson. She did not even ask us before stealing his name. I know that my son does not "own a name" however we did not use another name as she asked us not to. The name we gave our son is unusual. She had not heard of the name until we named our son. What type of Godmother names her newborn son after her baby godson? Our sons are so close in age. She even used the exact same spelling. My partner and I are angry. Are we being unreasonable? I feel like she has ended her relationship with us by doing this

I would find this annoyingly weird. Would have to say something so that she knew how weird I found it.

To be honest, it would likely affect the friendship so I would be prepared for that. Has she not shown any bizarre behaviour like that before?

A random friend naming their child Charlie when another friend has is obviously fine. A friend close enough to be a godmother naming her child immediately after with the same unusual name? Weird. Don't understand anyone saying it's not!

I'd find it a little odd and mildly irritating rather than anything more. Nowhere near ending the friendship over.

And no, godparents are nothing to do with taking care of orphaned children. That comes up a lot though as a common misconception.

‘Stealing’ a name? Are you both 8 years old? It sounds like my primary age daughter talking about people ‘stealing friends’.

I agree, it's weird. My grandmother and her sister both named their first children the same name. Weirrrrrrrrd.

Stop being so bloody dramatic

Even if she hadn't asked you not to use another name, she's weird.

Yanbu she's weird

This is insane. "Stealing" a name?

Laugh it off and feel smug that you chose such a good name

Can't believe you think that because you know someone with cancer that no one else is allowed to be upset by something. Maybe OP also knows someone with cancer, get over yourself

I'm gonna be genuinely disappointed if the precious name isn't Abcde or La-a.

If you're that arsed, cut her off. You're making yourself sound a bit arsed and precious. Rise above and get on with your life.

I don't think you sound precious at all. I think that's really weird and I'd be miffed too.

Extremely off thing to do. Probably just need to assume that she is bit thick, daft and thoughtless and feel sorry for her. No idea what the cancer post is about as of no relevance.

Some people just love to hate OP. You're not being dramatic

That is weird and annoying that you didn't choose your first name choice because of her. I think she sounds like she doesn't really like you or is jealous of you, to the extent that she would use her child's name to get one over on you. She's a godparent, which doesn't really mean anything unless you are particularly religious. Unless you know another motive, I'd be getting another Godparent for your child and distance myself from her. Problem solved. She's called her kid some random name that he now has to live with and she has no reason for it.

When your DS gets to be a toddler and your friend’s child comes to play say “xxx has the same name as you so we shall call him copycat So we don’t get confused. “

I always think "that person stole my baby's name" threads are completely nuts and incredibly adolescent.

But, in this case I'd have expected her to mention it to you beforehand. You wouldn't have been able to stop her obviously, but I
think she should have mentioned it.

It isn't the end of the world and tbh, super unusual names aren't the be all and end all. It may not be quite as unusual a name as you think and it's awkward having a very unusual name as people can't hear what you've said or can't spell it. So I wouldn't lose too much sleep over it

Keep it simple

message her:

You asked us not to call our son [Orson] because you wanted to use it for a future child of yours. We therefore chose a different, unusual name [Atlas] and you remarked that our this was the first time you had heard the name [Atlas]. Why have you used the exact same name for your son? It would be alright if they were both called Jack, but clearly Atlas is deliberately unusual - why did you do this?

YANBU. It’s weird and spiteful of her. I agree with the poster above who said it doesn’t really sound like she likes you. She seems jealous and determined to upset you. First she said you couldn’t use your favourite name, so you didn’t and chose a rare name instead. Then she pinches your rare name, thereby contradicting herself because both sons now have the same first name. She’s either a complete idiot or very jealous of you.

You don’t say how old your son is but if he’s very young you could consider changing his name to your original choice. But what I’d definitely do is have nothing more to do with this odd woman. Choose another GM and cut this one off completely. She’s not your friend.

The children will love having the same name

It’s not the child’s fault. How nasty.

This is the problem with the quest for unique names. It pisses on your popcorn when someone else uses it.

I bet you didn't get 80s mums kicking off because someone else called their baby Chris or Matt like 80% of all babies.

Maybe you just need to rethink the whole unique, rare naming thing?

That's fucking awful. Why on Earth would you even think about that? It's not the kids fault, what you advised is taking it out on the poor kid. What a horrible suggestion.

What did she say when you spoke to her about it?

It's a Mumsnet thing.
In real life, people tend to have bigger fish to fry.
(My DD has two male cousins with the same first name, and two female ones, as far as I know, nobody has accused anyone of "theft")