Anyone who's ever announced the name of their new baby to friends and family will be familiar with the mixed response: delight, joy, quizzical expressions, or downright rudeness. That’s the experience of one new mum, who has appealed for reassurance after people have pointed out how her son's name has a very unfortunate similarity to another crude word.
It’s been hard for her to ignore the attitude of her mother in particular, who has made her feelings about her new grandchild’s name quite clear. Taking to Reddit to explain the situation, the mum said: "We recently had a son and named him Ansel. I've since had two people tell me we might as well have named him "A**hole.
"My mom even spent the first week of his life trying to get us to change it and her "disapproval" of his name has been hurtful, to say the least."
Her friends and mother were not interested in hearing why they chose the name Ansel, despite there being a meaningful reason behind it.
"We chose the name for its meaning - 'divine protection' and 'God’s helmet'", the mum explained.
"It was an emotional, spiritual naming process that my partner and I went through as we watched Ansel struggle in the NICU."
Fortunately, they have other friends who have been extremely supportive: "They love his name, especially its relation to Ansel Adams".
Despite this, she can’t shake off the horrible "a**hole" comment and it's making her question her choice of name.
"I'm still so upset about the butt correlation that I'm struggling with that now every time I call him by his name. Yes, I'm sensitive - especially now. But is it worth changing his name for his sake and ours?"
It’s an awful situation for a new mum, but Reddit comments have been universally helpful and supportive.
"The only a**holes here are the ones who said that in the first place," said one comment. "Ansel is a great name."
Another offered an interesting perspective: "I like to look at baby names through a 'childhood bully ' lens to consider all possibilities, and 'a**hole' isn't something I would've thought for Ansel? It's a bit of a stretch to me.
"I think the 2 people you've come across were just projecting their own best trait onto your child lol."
Someone whose son had a similar name said: "My son is Axel and we got the same comments and concerns. I ignored them. I love the name Ansel!"
"If you like the name,” said another, "keep it. He’s your son, not theirs. Ansel is a nice name. Try to ignore the haters. Your mom will warm up to it eventually."
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