Ever had a name stolen?

krissyj75

Or had your favorite baby name used by someone else?  It doesn't matter if it was deliberate or unintentional, or if you believe a name can or can't be stolen.  Has this situation ever happened to you and if so, what did you do?  I want to hear your stories and personal experiences with this!

526SadieSadie

My cousin lost a baby girl at 16 weeks and they named her Emily.  Because of her, we eliminated all names close to Emily, out of respect.  So Emma, Emily, Emmeline and Emilia were out of the running.  I wouldn't have named my daughter something so close to my cousin's daughter if she lived but it would be especially cruel (IMO) to name my healthy baby something close to Emily given what happened.

Does that count?  I don't think names can be stolen, but this example is what I thought of.

HannahO28

I sure have! I called the police on their ass and they got served with a huge fine. No jail time though. Bummer.

TheWop

DH and I really liked the name Cameron for a girl (flame away), but his cousin named their baby girl Kameron (long before I got pg), so we took it off the list.  It wasn't a huge deal. 

Laurakat81

I'm mad that a friend of my husband is stealing my dogs name. Seriously....we named our dog Colston. They are naming their son due this month Kolston. I think they're stupid! :P

Michellie7

Laurakat81:

I'm mad that a friend of my husband is stealing my dogs name. Seriously....we named our dog Colston. They are naming their son due this month Kolston. I think they're stupid! :P

Yikes. That's kind of strange that they know your dog's name and are still naming their son that! Not to mention... Kolston, for a baby's name.... really?

ToBeMrsC6907

Kinda.  It wasn't "stolen" per say, but I had 2 of my girlfriends use one of our top 2 girl names (Claire) within 6 months of each other.  So, Hazel it was and we couldn't be more please- little girl is totally a Hazel.  It suits her.

zaramarie81

Well, I am 31 and 13 wks along with my first. When most of your friends/sibs/cousins get married around age 23, you "lose" names all the time. Let's see, Elise was a secret fave of mine. My sister has a daughter named Elise (was her Hubby's name suggestion, and she had no idea it was on my personal list). When dating, Dh and I basically agreed that if we had a son, we'd name him Benjamin. Then, a sister AND a best friend had baby Ben's in the same year. Out now. Dh and I love Natalia, but our goddaughter was recently named Natalie, and we'll likely not use a name that close (they'll prob grow up together). Oh, and our most recent frustration: Last year, after crossing so many names off, we both agreed on Julia for a frontrunner if we have a girl first (we were TTC). Later that month, his cousin announced their baby girl's name. Yep, Julia. And his fam is super tight-knit... it would be a tongue-twister to have two Jules.

Granted our names aren't wildly unusual or anything. It's just kinda funny. And no, we've never been mad about it, but we ARE wondering what the hec to name this LO!

 *Edited for spelling/grammar

juniper19

I don't really like to talk about it.  It was traumatizing.

I was on the subway when I was pregnant with my first.  It was after midnight.  And everyone left the subway car at the stop before mine, except for this other pregnant lady.  I could tell something was off.  She asked me what I was having and as soon as I said "girl" she rushed at me with a knife and said I had to tell her what I was naming the baby.  I begged her to leave me alone, but she just shook her knife at me and demanded the information.  I told her just as the subway was pulling into the stop and she ran out and disappeared into the night.

HannahO28

juniper19:

I don't really like to talk about it.  It was traumatizing.

I was on the subway when I was pregnant with my first.  It was after midnight.  And everyone left the subway car at the stop before mine, except for this other pregnant lady.  I could tell something was off.  She asked me what I was having and as soon as I said "girl" she rushed at me with a knife and said I had to tell her what I was naming the baby.  I begged her to leave me alone, but she just shook her knife at me and demanded the information.  I told her just as the subway was pulling into the stop and she ran out and disappeared into the night.

FTW!

sweetjay6891

Not myself but my mother did. She had baby names picked out ever since a little girl.

With my brother, she told a cousin that her name she had picked out for years was, Jake Ryan. ( I think it's from the movie 16 candles?)

My mother and her cousin were a few months apart with pregnancy being the cousin was farther along... with a boy as well.

 

She named her child, Jake Ryan.

They still don't speak. However, my mother still used the name only added a second MN. my fathers MN... Jake Ryan Daniel

Both kids share the same last name too and it's a last name thats if you have that last name, you are related.

 

So my man and I will NOT being sharing names to any family preggers. lol 

Laurakat81

juniper19:

I don't really like to talk about it.  It was traumatizing.

I was on the subway when I was pregnant with my first.  It was after midnight.  And everyone left the subway car at the stop before mine, except for this other pregnant lady.  I could tell something was off.  She asked me what I was having and as soon as I said "girl" she rushed at me with a knife and said I had to tell her what I was naming the baby.  I begged her to leave me alone, but she just shook her knife at me and demanded the information.  I told her just as the subway was pulling into the stop and she ran out and disappeared into the night.

Bahahahahaha!

krissyj75

zaramarie81:

Well, I am 31 and 13 wks along with my first. When most of your friends/sibs/cousins get married around age 23, you "lose" names all the time. Let's see, Elise was a secret fave of mine. My sister has a daughter named Elise (was her Hubby's name suggestion, and she had no idea it was on my personal list). When dating, Dh and I basically agreed that if we had a son, we'd name him Benjamin. Then, a sister AND a best friend had baby Ben's in the same year. Out now. Dh and I love Natalia, but our goddaughter was recently named Natalie, and we'll likely not use a name that close (they'll prob grow up together). Oh, and our most recent frustration: Last year, after crossing so many names off, we both agreed on Julia for a frontrunner if we have a girl first (we were TTC). Later that month, his cousin announced their baby girl's name. Yep, Julia.And his fam is super tight-knit... it would be a tongue-twister to have two Jules.

Granted our names aren't wildly unusual or anything. It's just kinda funny. And no, we've never been made about, but we ARE wondering what the hec to name this LO!

 

This is exactly the problem I am having!  DH and I are in our 30's now, too.  We had our first 2 kids in our early 20's.  Picking names was EASY back then, when we were among the first of our friends to have kids.

Here are some of mine:  A few years after my son was born, my cousin named her daughter the name the I had chosen for him had he been a girl.  No big deal - by that time the name was much more popular than it had been 5 years earlier and that had made me lose interest in it.  After that, I had another girl name in mind for a future daughter.  I made the mistake of telling it to a friend who then used it for her daughter - and it sucks because they have the same last name as us!  I am not mad at her, but she shouldn't be surprised if I still use the name.  I have been trying to find another name, but I still haven't been able to come up with one that I love more, so I am very frustrated.

I have no idea what name this baby will end up with, but it is turning out to be a very difficult task!

Laurakat81

I see nothing wrong with naming a kid something you love even if twenty of your friends have a kid with the same name. If you love it then use it.

mamahawk12

My best friend recently had a baby and they named him Luke. Her brother and sister-in-law didn't speak to them for MONTHS because they "stole" the name Luke. This was also a few weeks after they had told the family (after incessant questioning) that they didn't even know whether or not they wanted to have kids. So apparently my friend and her husband shouldn't have used the name Luke because it was already reserved for her bother's hypothetical, maybe-one-day son. People are CRAZY. There are 7 billion people in this world. Someone else is going to have your child's name. Get over it.

blush64

In most circumstances I don't think a name can be stolen. So far no one has used a name I wanted to use.

I guess they can't really steal a name from me because if I really like a name and I am set on using it, I will. I don't care if my cousin has a baby before me, if she picks the name I have picked out I will still use it.

AwBeth

Laurakat81:

I'm mad that a friend of my husband is stealing my dogs name. Seriously....we named our dog Colston. They are naming their son due this month Kolston. I think they're stupid! :P

AwBeth

Laurakat81:

I'm mad that a friend of my husband is stealing my dogs name. Seriously....we named our dog Colston. They are naming their son due this month Kolston. I think they're stupid! :P

I agree with many of the PPs and don't care about baby name "stealing" but I did have a funny story related to this.  One of DH's college buddies got a boxer puppy (black masked fawn, white markings, just like our's) and named her Layla (I think?  something like that).  A couple days later we had DD2.  Her gender and name were a secret but of course it was all announced once she arrived.  The very next day, they changed their dog's name to Charlotte.  Ha!  Strange timing. 

natalie7s19

Kinda... When brainstorming for baby #2, Callum was high on our list. When I told my 16-y.o. sister this, she flipped $hit and said we couldn't use that, it had been her favorite name for three years and she was definitely going to use it if she ever had a boy. 

So I reluctantly ditched Callum, even though I highly doubt that I'll actually have a nephew Callum someday. It just wasn't worth the dramaz. 

nanabanana06

Mine is silly. I was like 18 at the time with a BF that I thought would be mine forever (super wrong on that). So we picked out baby names for our future kids. When my step sister came up from Guatemala we went to the mall to shop. We got on the subject of names and I said that we had picked out Evelyn if it was a girl. My step sister said that she liked it, but her DH did not. So it was off the list. Fast forward to their anatomy scan and they find out it's a girl.  They named her Evelyn. At the time I was supper pissed. I told her and she said it was out. So to me it felt like name stealing. However, in hindsight I wouldn't of used it anyways. It's WAY too popular to even be on my radar.

alohamora

juniper19:

I don't really like to talk about it.  It was traumatizing.

I was on the subway when I was pregnant with my first.  It was after midnight.  And everyone left the subway car at the stop before mine, except for this other pregnant lady.  I could tell something was off.  She asked me what I was having and as soon as I said "girl" she rushed at me with a knife and said I had to tell her what I was naming the baby.  I begged her to leave me alone, but she just shook her knife at me and demanded the information.  I told her just as the subway was pulling into the stop and she ran out and disappeared into the night.

This is amazing.

apollonia10

My mom stole my sister's name from my aunt. My aunt had been talking about her ideal girl's name (she only had boys at that point) and my mom, who was pregnant with my sister at the time, fell in love with the name. She decided she'd only use the name if the baby was blonde, since my hair was so dark. Well, my sister came out blonde...and the name was hers!

My aunt has since had a daughter and is still irritated about how she didn't get her first choice name.

stahlop

At my DH's bachelor party he drunkly told a friend of his, who's wife was pregnant, about our too boys name, Everett.  A few months later, through the grapevine, he heard that this friend named his son Everett.  They live in FL and I've never even met them, so I could care less, but my DH was livid.  It still didn't stop us from naming our son Everett.

Recently, our BIL named his dog Ruby, which was a girls name we really liked. I don't think he knew that, so it wasn't really stealing, but I was upset over that one. 

serendipity_5

Yes, I know its silly because you cant own a name, but way back in my late teens a friend got pregnant with a boy and I was helping her pick out names I found one I loved, and still love. Fast forward 4-5yrs and Im still loving the name, my sister and sister in law are both pregnant and we are discussing names, I tell them the name, They both say they like it but not crazy for it..

Well my sister in law and brother were just recently pregnant with their 3rd boy and they already had his name picked out, but suddenly changed their minds and wanted the name I love. They took my husband and I out for dessert one night to ask us if they could use the name and my heart just dropped, it sounds dramatic but I was so disapointed they liked the name..I said that we planned on using it when we get pregnant but I realize I dont have control over the name, I also told them I was really attached to the name and my husband and I often used the name when talking about our future family...My brother and sister in law called us the next day to say they had moved on to another name not to worry. Well when baby was born, guess what his name was...The name we loved.Really grinds my gears.