Reddit user and father MulledMarmite is at a loss. His daughter has been pursuing the career of an influencer, and it has begun to take a toll on the people around her.
The final straw, however, came after she announced her pregnancy and told the future grandparent her son’s name. The man found it so awful that he decided to stage an intervention and invited everyone they knew.
But things got heated and some of the attendees believe he’s overreacting. So he turned to the subreddit ‘AITAH‘ to explain the situation and get its members’ unbiased opinions on it.
Relentless pursuit of work can erode one’s personal life, causing a great deal of imbalance
Image credits: biasciolialessandro / envatoelements (not the actual photo)
So when this father noticed his daughter might be overdoing it, he felt like he had to step in
Image credits: MART PRODUCTION / pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Prostock-studio / envatoelements (not the actual photo)
The dad provided a bit more info on his daughter’s marriage
Image credits: MulledMarmite
“Weird” names are becoming increasingly popular
Image credits: anon / facebook (not the actual photo)
The man does have a point. Unless his daughter homeschools his grandson, the kid will have to sit in a room full of little people who think the word “poo” is hilarious. So if their classmate is called something even slightly different, they’re very likely to make bad jokes about it.
But common baby names have been decreasing since the 50s – so much so that “baby name consultant” is now an actual job, helping parents avoid trendy names. As writer Bethan Kapur highlighted, this may be down to increased individualism, or even possibly the “social media username rat race.”
According to Pamela Redmond, who co-authored the book ‘Beyond Jennifer and Jason: An enlightened guide to naming your baby,’ this tendency may have been started by boomers, who she considers to be the first generation who wanted to be cool.
Merlin, 27, told Kapur that he got sick and tired of wizard jokes while still in primary school. “One of my earliest memories is a kid coming up to me and saying ‘Merlin like the wizard!'” he recalled. “I visibly rolled my eyes at four or five years old, which I’m told isn’t something children that young normally do.”
As people reacted to the story, its author joined the discussion in the comments
Experts agree that odd names can make things harder for us growing up
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“Parents are trying to be original, almost branding their kids in an era where names are viewed on the same level as Twitter handles or a website URL,” writer Sabrina Rogers-Anderson said.
Sabrina authored ‘The Little Book of Bogan Baby Names,’ chronicling some 200 eyebrow-raising choices Australian parents have made when it comes to christening their new arrivals.
The entries range from the misspelled to the backward and from the aspirational to those containing random apostrophes.
Rogers-Anderson is the only one who thinks that these names are from being harmless fun.
Multiple studies from around the world have found links between non-traditional names and employment, social and economic outcomes.
The first such research was conducted in 1948 when Harvard University looked at the life outcomes of 3,300 recent graduates and found that those with unusual names were more likely to have failed their studies or gone on to have negative psychological experiences.
“We all have a bit of bogan in us,” Rogers-Anderson said. “But you can take it too far when it comes to names. A name really matters at the end of the day.”
Research conducted by Shippensburg University even discovered a correlation between popular first names and lower rates of juvenile criminal behavior.
San Diego University researcher Jean Twenge says this is because names are strongly tied to personal identity and levels of self-content: “People who particularly dislike their name — and also if other people think it’s an odd and unlikeable name — that can cause some problems.”
“They tend not to be as well-adjusted,” Twenge added.
So it sounds like the Redditor’s worries are justified.
A few days later, the man released an update on the situation
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska / pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Anna Nekrashevich / pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: MulledMarmite
And people are wishing the family all the best going forward
