Naming a baby is an important task, as the kid will have to stay with the chosen name, at least until they’re old enough to legally change it themselves. So, for quite a long and important period of life. This means that parents must be careful not to choose something that might make that period of life harder than it could be — no weird names, such as Braxtley. This particular name is from today’s story, where a man was displeased with the baby name his wife chose and came to vent about it online.
More info: Reddit
How should you react when your partner chooses an odd baby name?
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The author’s wife chose Braxtley as her option for their baby’s name, which infuriated the man
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Image credits: Daniel Rocha (not the actual photo)
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He vented about it on Reddit, but later, he calmed down and came to an agreement with his wife on the more common name
The post’s author’s wife chose the name Braxtley for their upcoming baby, but the man wasn’t very happy with it.
Bored Panda tried to research the meaning of this name, but sadly, the effort wasn’t very fruitful. But we found a fun fact that Braxtley spelled backward is Yeltxarb. In retrospect, it isn’t even that fun of a fact, just a basic one, right?
Bored Panda also reached out to Rebekah Wahlberg, baby name trend specialist at BabyCenter.
She guessed that the name Braxtley is a composite one, likely combining names like Braxton and Bentley, which both are in the top 500 names for boys on BabyCenter in 2023.
Well, circling back to the story, apparently, the OP’s wife had been influenced to come up with such a peculiar name due to many of her friends naming their children names such as Shayleigh, AshleighLynns, and so on.
The man felt like he was “taking crazy pills” about all of it, especially since all his friends’ kids are named, in his eyes, normal names like Emma and Jackson. And so, he came to Reddit to ask if he was a jerk to hate the name Braxtley.
And people online had pretty much the same reaction to the name as the OP did — they wondered who in the world would name their kid this. Well, clearly the post author’s wife would. And no one else, at least in the subreddit.
Image credits: Waldemar (not the actual photo)
Later, the OP posted an update where he told everyone that he cleared the air with his wife. They had a heart-to-heart conversation and decided to name the baby Daniel or Paul. In the update, the man also told off the people who, after the original posting, told him to divorce his wife! After all, it was just a petty situation not worth breaking up the marriage.
And we agree — it’s just a petty situation over an odd name. But what’s up with these weird names? Well, it seems like many of them tend to be made up mostly by white parents as a way to show their individuality. These names endure being made fun of quite a bit on the internet due to their oddness and pointlessness. For instance, there’s a whole Facebook group meant to share names people find strange.
Rebekah Wahlberg confirmed our conclusion that parents pick unconventional baby names to be unique. “Having a baby is a life-changing, unforgettable experience – and many parents want a name that reflects that. So, they look for names that are unforgettable, names that they’ve never seen before, names that will make others immediately see that their kid is one-of-a-kind.”
Yet, baby name trend specialist BabyCenter notes that parents who decide to name their baby with quite an odd name should be wary of certain things: “People aren’t shy about sharing their opinions – positive and negative – and seemingly everyone has an opinion when it comes to baby names. So, be prepared to field plenty of questions and comments if you’re choosing an unconventional name for your baby.”
Of course, not only parents are touched by the unconventional name, but the kids as well, them even more. As Rebekah said, having a unique name can make a person instantly recognizable: “It’s up to you to decide whether that’s a good or bad thing.”
So, let’s calm down with overly strange made-up names, and let’s just not overcomplicate children’s lives with it. After all, it’s the children who have to be stuck with being named something like Braxtley.
Netizens were appalled by the name and urged the author to find a way out of naming the kid this
