I read this story on Reddit about a woman whose son is 4 months old. She and her husband absolutely love his name. However, her MIL recently started calling him a girl’s version of his name because she “likes the name.” The MIL does not live near them, so at least it isn’t to his face. The husband has told his mother not to call him that because not only is it not his name, but it’s typically a girl’s name. Despite this, they just received Christmas gifts from the MIL with the girl’s name and a smiley face written on his gift. The woman wondered, AITAH for being upset about this? Should we just let it go?
MIL lives across the country, so they see her once or twice a year. She called her son a week or so ago while he was at work (he can chat on the phone at work as long as he’s doing his job) and this topic came up. Since he was at work, he was limited to what he could say. But he is on the same page as his wife and hates it, and plans to call his mom about it again. This is a relatively new issue (within the last week or so). Also, NC is not an option as the house they currently rent belongs to the in-laws.
They’ve met a few people with his name, and it’s gained popularity over the past year or so. It isn’t common, but it’s not uncommon. Per mynamestats.com, his name is used 94% of the time for boys, and the girl name she’s calling him is used for girls 99% of the time.
Ok, his name is Brooks. She’s calling him Brooklyn. They knew picking his name that he’d get Brooke by accident, but this isn’t an accident.
Start calling MIL by the wrong name, preferably the male version of her name. This is not in good fun; this is disrespectful.
They need to start calling MIL the name of FIL’s ex-girlfriends before he met MIL. That will hit pretty hard. That’s what I’d do, but I’m petty AF.
I see you, twin. I’d be at the bottom of the barrel right with you.