Lots of people disagreed.
A mum-to-be turned to the internet for advice after her family was less than impressed with the name she had picked out for her baby.
She explained on Mumsnet that her own mum had told her to “reconsider” the moniker – and had even been suggesting alternatives, which was now starting to get to her.
The offending name? Felicity.
The woman said that she had been struggling emotionally through her pregnancy, as they had a loss last year – and her family weren’t respecting her wishes “not to shout the news from the bloody rooftops”.
She added:
“I get that they are excited and that is lovely, but I feel very uncomfortable about the contents of my uterus being discussed with everyone they meet. “
She explained that she had recently told her mum about the name choices she and her partner had picked out for their baby.
The boys name they told her was a family name that “everyone is happy with” – but the couple, as she explained, are the only ones that know they’re having a girl.
So it’s understandable why she would feel particularly protective over the girls name they had picked.
She continued:
“I made the mistake of telling my mum we liked the name Felicity and she has said ‘if it’s girl I’d like you to reconsider your name… kids can be cruel blah blah blah’ and some other shit about how when people asked her what names we were thinking and she said Felicity they were like ‘oh’ rather than ‘that’s lovely’.
“Like I should give a shit what some random person from her work thinks?
“It has really really upset me and I now don’t want to discuss anything to do with names with her.
“She keeps suggesting other girls names and it’s really getting to me.
“I was so upset by what she said and it’s making me feel dreadful thinking when baby comes she will hate the name – oh and she says my dad and brother don’t like it either.”
She finished off the post by explaining that while she knows the choice is ultimately up to her and her partner, her mum’s comments have made her reluctant to talk about the pregnancy with her any further.
And beyond the confusion over what there was to be cruel about with the name Felicity (seriously, we think it’s a lovely name), many commenters urged the mum to ignore her mum’s remarks and go with the name she loved.
One person said:
“Felicity is nice unusual agreed but not to the point of weird. Use it and stuff them.”.
Someone else wrote:
“Felicity is a lovely name. And who cares what other relatives think? If you don’t use the name you love, you will resent it for a long time.”
Another person added:
“I’m a bit confused by what she thinks there is to be cruel about the name Felicity – she sounds very overinvested! If you like it, use it!”
A different commenter suggested:
“Maybe pick three names you know she will dislike and say you’re adding them to the list, so she can complain about those instead of Felicity for a while.”
