Woman tells coworker her 'exotic' name for her baby is dumb. Says, 'people think you can't spell.' AITA?
Woman tells her coworker she's picked a dumb name for her baby.
Ok-Customer1224 writes:
AITA? So my coworker is pregnant with her first baby, and she asked me yesterday about my thoughts on her baby name, and things didn't go well.
We work at a hotel that doesn't get much traffic, so there's always a lot of downtime to sit and chat. We’re not friends, but since we’re both girls and the same age (23), we do speak a lot when we’re on the same shift together.
She asked me if I had heard of the name Venus, and I said yes. She said she's going to name her daughter that but add an A at the end so it's Venusa. She said that it's so exotic and unique sounding, right? I said no, it sounds like the already existing name “Vanessa”.
She got upset and said no it doesn't, and that she's asked her boyfriend and her parents, and they all said it's a name that's never been heard of before. I said that it sounds like Vanessa and that it's kind of a dumb name to give someone since every time they say it aloud people will call them Vanessa, and it will always be misspelled.
She started to cry and said, “Great, people are already insulting my parenting choices,” and that I'm being a b^%$h and left the shift early. Now, our other coworkers have been messaging me, saying I'm disgusting for making a pregnant woman cry. AITA? I was being honest since she asked me.
The internets top baby name commenters gave out some judgements:
VeronicaSawyer8 says:
"I said that it sounds like Vanessa." cool... I'm with you here, but then you said: "and its kind of a dumb name to give someone." and that's where you dipped your toe into YTA (You're the A^%&ole). You didn't jump in fully, but it's still slight YTA.
rainyday1347 says:
You’re right that is does sound like Vanessa and I agree that it’s a dumb name. On the other hand, when someone you aren’t close with tells you their babies name, you just say “oh that’s nice” no matter how bad it is. That’s just common sense.
FuzzyMom2005 says:
Soft YTA. You didn't have to say it was dumb. You could have just said "I hear Vanessa. Maybe it's just me." And let her dumb name go.
MrsPomMummy says:
YTA. There are exactly two acceptable reactions when an acquaintance, coworker or anyone outside your absolute inner circle tells you their future baby name. The first is, "oh that's nice/lovely/pretty."
If the name is truly horrible, then you can go with number 2: "That's an interesting name. Where did you find it?" And then whatever the story behind it is, YOU NOD POLITELY AND DROP IT.
This isn't your battle to fight. You'll gain absolutely nothing from it, nor will it benefit your relationship with the person. All you will achieve is making them feel bad.
What do you think? Was OP right to make that comment?