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Having a baby comes with so many foibles it's hard to remember that the very first hurdle is simply giving the kid a name.
They're stuck with it for life, after all (in most cases anyway).
You don't want to be boring but you don't want to be so original that your kid gets made fun of. And a name that seems perfectly normal today could be a disaster down the road.
Think of all the early 1900s people who named their children Adolph...yikes.
A new mom is learning this lesson the hard way after accidentally giving her new baby a name that sounds like "Lasagna." Her family thinks it's a cute, funny joke, but the mom is not laughing—and it's causing quite the familial conflict.
The story comes to us via the AITA (Am I The A**hole) subReddit, which bills itself as "a place to finally find out if you were wrong in an argument that's been bothering you."
Titled, "AITA for naming my daughter 'lasagna'?", the user, going by the name "namedmydaughterpasta" detailed just how her daughter got this name, and how it's tearing their family apart.
"Hi, sorry for the clickbait title but this is literally the situation. Throwaway for obvious reasons."
"My husband and I welcomed our first child about nine weeks ago. We found out it was going to be a girl and we quickly decided on the name Elizabeth for her. Her middle name was originally going to be Jane, with the intent to call her EJ, however, when I was seven months pregnant, my husband's mother lost her fight with breast cancer."
"Her name was Anya (pronunciation: Ahn-Yuh). I loved her so I offered to change the middle name from Jane to Anya. My husband and his family were touched and agreed so our daughter became Elizabeth Anya Jane Last-Name."
Okay, seems normal enough so far, Elizabeth Anya is a lovely name.
What's the problem?
"A few days after she was born we quickly started calling her Liz instead of Elizabeth. Now her legal name is all but forgotten and everyone refers to her as Liz Last-Name. We've been having frequent group-Skype sessions with family during the stay-home mandate so our families can see the baby, see us, see each other and stay connected."
"My sister pointed out that we named our baby 'Lasagna.' I hadn't made the mental connection but if you put her first and second names together 'Liz Ayna' it really does make lasagna.'"
Hmm... yeah that wasn't the best choice.
But is it really that big a deal?
"I told my sister that I doubt anyone would make that connection, especially considering people rarely use their middle names in daily life."
Exactly! No problem.
Except for the mother's family, who've turned it into a family joke.
"But then my whole family chimed in and now everyone keeps calling my daughter 'Lasagna.' Now I'm scared that when she eventually starts school her classmates and others will latch onto this and make fun of her. I mean, the teasing has already started amongst my family."
Oh dear...
"I have asked them to stop because one day Liz will know they're making fun of her and she'll be hurt. My sister told me if I didn't want people to make fun of her name then I shouldn't have named her what I did."
Well, Auntie's got a point.
However, perhaps the fam is taking this a touch far?
"They won't stop and every time I protest they remind me that I'm the one who named her so I've made my bed."
Okay yeah, this just seems kinda mean...
"I'm basically not speaking to them right now and they've been sending me daily texts basically telling me I'm being unreasonable and cruel to keep them from seeing the baby (via Skype)."
"AITA for naming my daughter what I did? AITA for cutting off my family for their teasing? Have I brought this on myself?"
Well this is awkward.
Luckily, most of namedmydaughterpasta's Redditors were fairly clear on their stance.
"OP's family really should drop it. This has the opportunity to be such a cute and funny family in-joke, provided the family doesn't treat OP's kid like the butt of it all." --littlewoolhat
"Yeah I'm really confused why your sister would mock this being that it's the name you gave your daughter to honour a dead relative. Surely she should show some respect to that?" --heart-of-novocaine
"NTA (Not the A**hole). They are being unreasonable and cruel to taunt an infant by calling her names." --wind-river7
And several chimed in to let namedmydaughterpasta know that things could be so, so much worse.
"NTA. It's ok that you didn't catch it. Your family should drop it once you said it bothered you. Could be worse though, I have friends that named their kid T-bone Ham." --pmthewstx
"I was introduced to a police officer in high school. He was a friend of my friend's mother. His first name? B*tch. Literally on his drivers license. It's the name his parents gave him. I have never complained about my name since because I don't think anything beats that." --NiktoriaNo
"I know someone who did realize till pointed out that they named their kid a whole sentence. Isabella Rose? Maybe." --KindergartenBullsh*t
"There was a guy at my school named Stewart Pidcock. Everyone obviously shortened it to Stew..." --CBRaiders
"There's a guy in my region named D'Alcapone Alpacino." --Freyja2179
While a few others had some truly wonderful advice.
"NTA"
"Lean in and change your last name to Garfield." --Suhyer
"100% and the first birthday needs to be Garfield themed and serve... what else but lasagna Beat them at their own game" --bitchybadger
Anyway, it's seems the moral here is be very careful what you name your kid, because you ever know what might cause a family feud.