A family are currently divided over changing a baby girl’s name.
The father of the child has shared their dilemma.
The unnamed man explained how he and his wife had a baby three weeks ago and have given her a name that’s a “bit uncommon” but similar to Scarlett.
They really like the name, but when they introduced the baby to their family over a video call, his mother, who doesn’t speak English, found it difficult to pronounce the name, so instead started calling her ‘Mouse’ as a sweet nickname.
His mother-in-law found it amusing that she couldn’t say the name, which upset and embarrassed the other woman.
As a result, the man felt bad for his mum and asked his wife if they could change their daughter’s name to something that was easier for her to say.
Writing on Reddit’s Am I The A**hole forum, he said: “My wife and I have a three-week-old baby daughter, our first. Her name is a bit uncommon – in the general family of Scarlett.
“We chose our daughter’s name when my wife was seven months pregnant but decided to keep it a secret until she was born. Since coming to America, my accent has slowly faded.
“My mom, however, cannot pronounce English names without a thick, thick accent. I didn’t even think about this until after our baby had been born and we introduced her to my mother, who was completely unable to pronounce her name.”
He continued: “We had a family Zoom that my mom was a part of last week, and while she wasn’t able to understand much, she was cooing at the baby.
“My MIL asked what she was saying, I told them that she was calling her mouse. My MIL laughed about it and asked why she didn’t just call the baby by her name.
“I said she couldn’t say the name which made my MIL laugh harder and ask for my mom to ‘just try.’ I gave an excuse for the call to end, and my wife had an argument with her mother about making fun of my mom.
“My mom isn’t fluent in English, but she knew she was being laughed at. She was extremely embarrassed by it all and hasn’t wanted to speak to anybody since.”
“That night, I asked my wife if we could think about changing the baby’s name so my mom might have a chance to say it.”
His wife wasn’t having any of it and shut the conversation down.
The new mother thought it would be more embarrassing to tell everyone they had changed the name, than for one person to pronounce it incorrectly.
She added that if he kept pushing her to change the name she would separate from him as it was “asking her to compromise on her values and destroy [the] baby’s identity”.
People who replied to the post were torn over who was in the wrong.
Many people thought the wife was being a bit dramatic to suggest leaving him and that the husband should just let his mum keep calling the baby ‘Mouse’.
The mother-in-law was also deemed to be the worst of the bunch, for making fun of the other mum.
One person commented: “This is ridiculous. Plenty of kids have nicknames and the baby will not get confused it does not know things yet. Find a cute nickname you like that your mom can say and have her say that.”
Another said: “The only a**hole here is your MIL. It seems to me she’s the only one here with any real issue with the nickname, your wife seemed relatively understanding of it until you insisted on completely changing the baby’s name.”
A third added: “It sounds like the name is a colour, similar to Scarlett. So maybe the mum can call the baby that colour in her native language?”