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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Grace Hoffman

'My brother wants to name his baby after our late brother - it will traumatise my dad'

Choosing a name for a newborn can be a testing decision for many parents. While the moniker will follow their little one for life, the big decision may come a lot more naturally to some parents more than others.

A man has shared his concerns to a popular forum after his brother is keen to name his newborn son after their late sibling. However, the anonymous user is concerned that this will 'devastate' their father.

Taking to Reddit, the man explained that his brother has intentions of surprising their dad with the special name.

He explained: "Four years ago our youngest brother Jake died in a car accident on his way to a Comic Con. He was 22. Out of anyone, it hurt our dad the most."

The brother is fearful that the moniker will 'devastate' his father (stock photo) (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

The man went on: "Jake and my dad were very close and my dad was a stay-at-home dad for most of Jake's life.

"Only now is my dad starting to show some signs of life like going back to work and going to the gym but he's still devastated.

"My older brother Jeremy is expecting a baby boy with his wife and he recently said that he wants to name him after Jake. I said please don't. I understand why he wants to do that but it will bring up a lot of pain and trauma for our dad. It's a misguided idea.

"I told him that our dad is getting older and has probably lost ten years of life losing his youngest son. Naming his son after Jake will be just triggering for him.

"I know this because I still live with my dad and he very much avoids places or things that remind him of Jake. He won't even go to these meditation gardens that he and Jake used to go to."

"Jeremy said that it's not up to me what to name their kid and that I'm an a**hole for trying to 'erase' Jake from our family and he lost a brother too. I said it was selfish of him," the man added.

Since sharing his concerns, the Reddit user's post has raked in over 170 comments to date - where people were torn over the choice of moniker.

One person said: "No, it's supposed to be a 'happy' surprise."

Meanwhile, a second wrote: "I still stand that your dad is going to need some processing time. I think handing him the newborn and saying say hi to Jake isn't going to give the reaction your brother is hoping for."

"Maybe offer them to use Jake as a middle name?" Someone else suggested.

Do you have a story? We want to hear it! Get in touch at grace.hoffman@reachplc.com

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