'My wife wants to name our son after a Harry Potter character. Am I overreacting?'

"My wife wants to name our son after a Harry Potter character. Am I overreacting?"

I (23m) eloped to my high-school sweetheart at 19. we’ve been together since we were 14. my wife is currently 6 months pregnant with our son and both of us are over the moon about it. For some background my wife is autistic and hyper fixates over certain topics and interests 24/7. they range from the history of bagels too greek mythology. This has always been one of my favorite aspects of her.

Listening to her talk passionately about things she truly loves always puts a smile on my face and I wouldn’t change it for the world. Her current interest is on harry potter fan fiction.

(I may make some mistakes describing this as I only know as much as she’s told me but feel free to correct me.) My wife and I are both pro trans rights and the author of harry potter is far from it. My wife wouldn’t condone that behavior under any circumstance, so has found a subsection of the community that’s based around harry potters parents and their friend group.

One of these friends of course being Sirius black. she’s taking a huge liking to his character in particular and has been wearing my leather jacket recently to incapsulate his vibe too. none of this bothers me in the slightest.

I love my wife and her passion for her interests is incredibly attractive to me. Going back on topic, me and my wife never had a certain selection for our baby’s name and always just figured we would know when we meet him for the first time.

Last night my wife approached me, poured me a glass of non alcoholic wine (as we’re both drinking during her pregnancy) and asked me if we could name our son after Sirius Black.

I thought the idea was a joke to begin with honestly. I soon realized she was deadly serious and in the nicest way I possibly could I tried to tell her that the name only suits a fictional character. I explained to her that our son would be subjected to bullying and would likely grow up hating his name.

She didn’t reply though she just laid her feet on my lap and stayed uncharacteristically quiet for the rest of the night. I know my wife incredibly well and I know she hates getting asked what’s the matter. She’d rather sort it all through in her head first and then later directly come to me afterwards so I waited for that.

This morning we were eating breakfast together and she explained to me that her son was a Sirius and she could feel it. She told me that she’s thought over what I said but thought naming her son after the brightest star in the sky and her favorite fictional character was the only option.

She emphasized how a mother just knows these things instinctively which I clearly cannot argue against. I left the discussion there but I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do. I love my wife so dearly but I know how she is with these things. She’s obsessed with this topic right now but in 5 months it’ll be the new big thing and it will switch over completely. AITA?

Here's what people had to say to OP:

Equivalent_Lemon_319 said:

While Sirius is an actual name, it’s become far too rare for people to not immediately pick up on Sirius Black. NTA for vetoing the name, the choice of your child’s name requires you both to be 100%, so Sirius should be out of the equation entirely.

CallMeASinner said:

NTA, don’t know how well you’ll be able to change her mind though. Would you be willing to consider alternatives with similar meanings but without a fandom attached (because you’re right - there will be judgment around the name over time). Something like Sterling, maybe, that means “little star” or Siras which is similar but not the same connotation as far as random.

Naming a person after a fictional person also sets them up for all kinds of potential issues besides just bullying, and may point out to her you want your kid to have their own identity, not one so closely tied to a current fandom that may affect their view of themselves.

Cute-Shine-1701 said:

NTA There's a big difference between naming a kid Harry, George, Charlie, etc. and Dobby, Voldemort, Sirius, etc. Little hint for your wife: the second set of names are not ok, unless you are naming a pet, but not for real humans.

Acceptable-Mouse9235 said:

NTA. Movie franchise names are for pets not people.

jillystaff said:

NTA because both parents should agree on a name. Having said that, it took me about 5 minutes to convince my son’s father that we should name our baby after a character from LOST. But we both agreed!! If he had said no, we would have continued our search.

throwfaraway212718 said:

NTA. What's more important, indulging your wife's childish whim(and I say this as an autistic person) or protecting your son from ending up with his therapist on speed dial? I understand that it seems life or death important to her; but she doesn't get unilateral say here. Children are merciless, and your son will get bullied. Get a dog.