A pregnant woman says she doesn't know what to do after her interfering mother-in-law 'gifted' the unborn child her own middle name, only to take offence when they didn't want it.
According to this mum-to-be, who is due to give birth in a couple of weeks, she and her husband have fallen for the name Daisy May, with the name May having a sweet personal significance to her.
As a young girl, she would name her dolls May, and even write stories about characters called May, and so she now likes the idea of connecting "that girlhood part" of herself to her firstborn daughter.
Although the couple tried to keep the name secret, her husband - whose name is John - accidentally let the first name 'Daisy' slip during a chat with his mum, Molly.
The 34-year-old expectant mother has had a few difficulties with Molly over the course of her pregnancy, and, in her words, the eager grandma-to-be has been "jumping over boundaries like she's one of those buzzed dogs you see in those Westminster agility competitions".
When Molly announced she wanted to throw her a celebratory tea party with her side of the family, she assumed this was an attempt to make up for some of her previous shenanigans, and so happily agreed. Little did she know what Molly had in store.
Taking to Reddit, the fed-up mum-to-be wrote: "Well, at this tea party, Molly gave me a large wrapped gift box along with a speech about how it's a tradition in John's family that if the eldest son has daughters, the grandmother of those daughters gifts them their middle names.
"Excuse me, what? I'm surrounded by like 50 women and they're all nodding Stepfordly. I don't have the spoons for this, so I just open the box. There are a bunch of blankets and stuff with 'Daisy Flora' embroidered on them.
"So I guess everyone knows the first name now. I go through the motions to get to the party's end. Molly says that I seem upset. I tell her that John didn't tell me of the tradition and that I want to discuss it with him before saying anything further. Molly was unenthused by my response."
John was left utterly "flabbergasted" when she relayed what had gone down at the tea party, and clarified that "he'd never heard of this tradition but supposes it's possible."
Reaching out to fellow Reddit users for some words of wisdom, she continued: "I told him that while I respect Molly as family, we made a choice as parents, and I loved that choice. I was insistent. We told Molly no to Flora, and she is beyond upset.
"Here's the thing, I don't hate her choice. I know I could actually grow to love Daisy Flora. I feel part of me is refusing to adopt the name because of past resentment towards Molly. It's just a middle name after all. I'm so used to establishing boundaries that maybe I don't know when I'm the a****** fencing myself in."
One fellow Reddit user reassured her: "It's your child, you shouldn't feel pressured to stick to a family tradition, especially when your partner wasn't even aware of it.
"To already have the name embroidered on things was also weird and put you in an awkward position. Congratulations on your pregnancy, don't let anyone tell you what you're allowed to name your child."
Another urged her to tell her mother-in-law: "My family also has a tradition, which is that the parents, and only the parents, name the child. Sorry."
Do you have a baby name story to share? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
