Mother upsets son and his wife by saying their baby name is better suited to a horse

Everyone has got an opinion when it comes to baby names, and one father found this out when his mum "freaked out" when he told her his favourite name.

The father-to-be took to Reddit's "Am I the A**hole?" forum to get people's opinions on whether he was in the wrong for not speaking to his parents after their reaction to his baby's name made his wife cry.

To begin with, he noted how he "always had an interest in philosophy and mythology," and is a "name nerd," and it was something he and his wife were discussing as they are adopting a baby.

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"When we broke the news to my parents, they were so happy for us. But last weekend, they asked if we have a name in mind... This is where the trouble began," he wrote.

For him, there was only one name he had in mind for the baby, "When I first read the name Nikiforos 1 1/2 years ago, I knew it would be that of my future child."

However, the name didn't exactly go down well with his mum who made a not-so complementary remark...

"My mother freaked out and said she might name a horse that, but not a child. We were very upset by this comparison," he explained.

The mum upset her son and his wife when she said their preferred baby name is something she would name a horse.iStockphoto by Getty Images

"Mother doesn’t even own a horse, so we felt she just said that to hurt our feelings. Then she said 'hold up... Are you adopting a girl... Or a boy...' And we said a boy. But she said that other kids would think our son is a girl.

"She asked if we ever thought about being out in public and having to call for him. “Nikiforos! You forgot your lunchbox!”.

"Then she tried to imitate horse sounds and stomped up and down the stairs. My father was suspiciously quiet while my mother was ridiculing our personal choices."

The man then detailed how his wife loves French culture and "fell in love with the French spelling - Nicephore. It’s not pronounced 'nice' as in 'very nice'. The French way of saying it sounds like 'niece four'."

But again, the father's mum made her feelings abundantly clear.

"We brought this up, hoping the reaction would be better... Mother then asked if the entire discussion was just a prank. My wife started crying at this point," he said.

"My mother seemed annoyed and asked to see the rest of our name list. She said none of them fit our last name."

The man was not happy about the reaction from his parents when he went through his favourite baby names iStockphoto by Getty Images

Meanwhile, the man also mentioned Didaskalos as his second favourite name and a potential middle name for his child, and added it has a special meaning because it means "teacher" and his wife is a primary school teacher.

This time it was the man's father rather than his mother who caused upset over his reaction.

"This is when my father burst out into laughter and claimed it sounded like Adidas. Then he noted that we could go with “Nike” for a nickname, should we name the kid Nikiforos or Nicephore.

"I grabbed my jacket and my wife and left. We felt so ridiculed, we didn’t even want to eat dinner that night and went straight to bed. We still haven’t spoken to them since."

At the end, the man asked: "AITA for wanting my child to have a historical name?"

Since sharing details about baby name family fallout, people in the comments were divided over the situation.

Some believed that the parents-to-be were in the wrong for planning to give their baby an obscure name.

One person said: "YTA that kid will be bullied severely. Sure your mom was being rude, but she’s got a point."

"YTA. I'll probably get downvoted for this, but you and your wife are the a**holes," another person said.

"As an elementary school teacher, your wife should especially know how brutal kids are to each other. With a name like Nikiforos, you're pretty much signing your kid up for constant teasing throughout school.

"Sure, it wasn't nice for your parents to mock you guys if you're serious about the name, because like you said, you're entitled to pick the name of your child. But that doesn't mean you aren't an asshole if you give them a name that they will definitely get made fun of for."

Someone else added: "YTA your parents reactions are exactly the kind of jokes your child will get just because you wanted everyone to know how smart you are."

"YTA. Your mom is right. As a horse owner, that actually sounds like a lovely name for a horse. I would totally use it so thanks for that," a fourth person commented.

Though there were a few who simply believed both sides were in the wrong.

One person said: "ESH [Everyone sucks here]. Your parents were rude and immature when they insulted your choice of baby names. However, you don’t seem to realize exactly how annoying having a complicated, unusual name will be for your child."

"ESH. Your mom is TA because she thinks she gets to be a part of the decision about what you name your child. You are TA because you didn't shut her down earlier," another person said.

Someone else added: "EHS. Yes, your mother was an a**hole for behaving like that but honestly those names are gonna doom your kid to being made fun of."

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