When it comes to choosing a baby name, taking inspiration from family members such as parents, grandparents, or other relatives is a fairly common practice.
But one woman has left her stepsister fuming after she announced that she plans to name her baby boy after someone who is technically no longer part of their family - her sibling's former husband.
The woman explained that when her stepsister, Allie, was married to her now-ex-spouse Rob, the couple welcomed a son and decided to name him after the woman's husband, Max, as a way of honouring their close-knit family and friendship group. In turn, the woman and her husband vowed to return the favour if they ever had a son, by naming him after Rob.
Now the couple is expecting a baby boy and fully intends on keeping their promise to name him after Rob, but the woman's sibling has branded the move "disrespectful", as she has divorced Rob since their pact was made.
In a post on Reddit, the woman explained: "I have 2 daughters and I'm currently expecting a son with my husband Max.
"My stepsister, Allie was married to Rob, who through the years has become good friends with Max. Allie and Rob named their first son after Max (not exactly the same name) and we always said we would return the favour.
"Allie and Rob went through a nasty divorce about three years after she discovered he was having an affair. After that, I stopped hanging out with Rob as much but Max and Rob are still very close.
"This brings us to today, Max's brother, as a Christmas gift, is making wood art of our son's name. [Because of this], we decided to publicly announce his name since everyone is going to know soon [anyway]. We decided to go ahead with the variation of Rob's name. We did a name reveal on Facebook and immediately began to get comments.
"My stepmum and Allie began to blow up my phone, telling me I can't name my baby the chosen name because I'm throwing Rob in her face and disrespecting her. I pointed out that Allie and Rob share kids so he's in her life forever.
"At this point, we feel that the name is our son's name because it has basically been his name in our mind the whole time. Allie is not speaking to me at this time and I'm feeling awkward about going to my parent's house for Christmas as don't want to argue in front of the kids.
"My husband and I feel like Allie is being overly sensitive because she is still hurt."
Commenters on the post were largely against the idea of the woman naming her son after Rob, especially after she indicated he had cheated on her stepsister, which is what caused the breakdown of their marriage.
One person said: "It's gross you'd even want to celebrate the name of a person who betrayed your sister, or attach your child to that person. Your sister being attached to him via kids couldn't be less relevant."
While another added: "Your lack of empathy toward your sister is astounding. A man who she believed she would spend her life with, who she had children with, began an affair which led to her life, and her kids' lives, being forever changed. She went through a, as you stated, nasty divorce for three years.
"It's hard to fathom why your sister wouldn't want her nephew to be named after someone who caused her so much pain and heartache."
And a third wrote: "So Allie and Rob named their kid after one of you, and you intended to reciprocate. A cheating divorce should certainly cancel this vague obligation, but why on earth didn't you just call the kid Allan after your sister instead?"
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