When it comes to baby names, it might be difficult to choose just one. But what if you have two children, each with a unique name? That appears to be the case for one mom who just gave birth to twin sons. She gave the two babies the same name, but with different spellings, which was unusual.
One of the babies is called “Sean”, while the other is “Seen” – both pronounced “Shawn”. Sean is also the surname of the family. One of her colleagues called her decision to name her children “idiotic” after hearing what she had named them.
The mother’s colleague went to the Am I The A****** subreddit to get opinions on whether their comments were too harsh. They said that after suffering infertility, their 39-year-old colleague was finally blessed with twins. She brought the babies to work to show them off to her friends.
But when the new mother shared their names, the Redditor blurted out: “This is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard, and it’s going to be so confusing”. According to the office worker, the office was divided. Others “immediately looked away” while some laughed. Others texted them afterward to say it wasn’t their place to remark on someone’s name choice.
Providing extra context, the Redditor claimed that the kids do not have middle names since she wanted their names to be like “Tom Tom, or Jay Jay”. This is apparently not the “first round of negative feedback” the mum has received.
An identical twin posted the most popular comment, which received over 23,000 upvotes. They said: “Matching names is probably the cruelest thing you could do to a person. It’s not just confusing. It would keep the twins from developing identities outside their twin-ness.” They also rinsed the parents for their “creative spelling” of “Seen”. They added that although the original poster could have minced its words, “it needed to be said”.
Another wrote: “Maybe I’m also an AH [a******] but if she can’t handle the backlash for her kids’ names, think about how her boys will feel growing up. Might as well start now because they’re in for a childhood of jabs and jokes! Hopefully, she legally changes them after a good night’s sleep in a few months.”
“If they were normal stupid twin names like Harry and Potter or Spider and Man or something I’d say YTA [you’re a ******] and mind your own business. However, I have to say NTA because that really is the most idiotic thing I’ve ever heard,” another remarked.
The original poster stated their colleague’s husband, who is also a coworker, read the post after it gained popularity on the forum. They wrote: “They had a good chuckle and ended up agreeing with the replies that the naming process wasn’t ideal, and maybe the overwhelming process of having two newborns left them too tired to think straight.”
The parents are now reevaluating the names, and are considering a new name for Seen, but they have opted to keep “Sean Sean”. The Redditor added: “They also want everyone to know that ‘calling her an idiot isn’t the worst thing I’ve said to her this year, and while I’ll definitely [be] an AH [a******], that’s more of an in the general thing than tied to this situation’.”