What you decide to name your baby is entirely your choice, but if you ask people what they think of the moniker you've picked, you might find yourself facing judgement from people who aren't fans of your decision.
But one mum-to-be has been urged not to use a fairly common name for her son, because people have told her it's "ridiculous" and could end up being confusing for people who know their family.
The woman, named Charlotte, said that she wants to name her son Charles with the idea of nicknaming him Charlie, which is sentimental to her because it was her own nickname when she was in school.
And while the name might seem simple enough, people online have tried to tell her not to use it, because her husband's name is also Charles - making their family unit Charles, Charlotte, and Charlie.
In a post on Reddit, she said: "The name Charles runs in my husband's family. It's his first name, his dad's first name, his grandpa's first name, etc. However, my husband goes by his middle name and no one calls him Charles. Many people don’t even know that it's his legal name.
"My name is Charlotte and in high school, my nickname was Charlie, Char, etc. No one that I'm close to calls me Charlie anymore, but I imagine that people who knew me in high school (but I don’t speak to anymore) would still think of me as Charlie.
"My husband and I have Charles (Charlie as a nickname) as a top contender on our baby name list. Obviously, it makes a ton of sentimental and traditional sense for us to name him Charles given my husband's family, but I'm wondering if it would be weird given my name is the female version?
"Is it even weirder if we call him Charlie, literally a name I went by for several years?"
Commenters on the post were quick to tell the woman that the similarity of the names seemed "ridiculous" to them, but said she could always use Charles or Charlie as a middle name if she still wanted to honour the tradition.
One person said: "If it wasn't also your husband's name, I'd say go for it. But, Charles, Charlotte and Charles seem like a lot of confusion waiting to happen. As a middle name, I think it'd be fine."
While another added: "If I met a family where all three members had basically the same name, I would think they were ridiculous, even if I didn't say it out loud."
And a third wrote: "Without knowing the backstory, if I just encountered your family in the wild, I would think it's weird."
In an update to her post, the mum-to-be said she appreciated the "honesty" of people in the comments, and insisted she hadn't yet made a final decision on her son's name.
Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at yourmirror@trinitymirror.com.
