A woman has been left furious after her best friend gave her newborn an almost identical name to her own child's, sparking resentment and a rift in their friendship.
The children are almost a year apart in age, and the mum said her friend had chosen the same first name and a near-identical middle name, despite knowing what her child was called.
Reddit post sparks debate
Taking to Reddit, the mum asked whether she was right to be upset and explained that her friend had laughed off the similarity as a coincidence.
She said: "My 'friend' called her baby almost the exact same name as mine (they are almost a year apart). Should I be upset? I named my child, let's say 'John Doe' and she decided to call her child 'John Doey'."
"When she told me what she was calling him, she laughed and said wow isn't that a coincidence? ! Like no? You knew what my child's name was and you still chose to name him the exact same first name and pretty much the same middle name?"
Readers weigh in
"Like be original. Get your own name. They are almost a year apart so it's not like she gave birth one week later and had no clue what my child's name was."
"Anyway. It was really annoying. But I've learned to not get upset over things I can't control or change. It's causing a rift in our friendship and I am a bit resentful."
Hundreds of people weighed in beneath the Reddit post to share their thoughts on the matter, with many left utterly stunned by what they'd read.
One person said: "Unlike most people here, I think it's very odd to give your child BOTH same or almost same first and middle name as your friends. If it was just one or the other, whatever, but both? Odd."
A second said: "My niece has a name one letter off from my daughter's name (think Brianna and Rianna.) They have the same last name. When I met my sister-in-law the first thing she said to me was how my daughter's name was the name she had wanted for her future child so I should probably just be glad the names aren't exactly the same."
A third said: "I am naming my son Cillian Jack; my husband will be calling him Cj, and his brother calls his son Tj. When his brother was told that my husband would nickname his son Cj, he apparently had a huge problem with it. People said both will get confused by their names, which I don't see how, considering C and T are what separate them."
A fourth added: "Kinda bucking the trend here but yea I'd feel weird if a close friend used the same name. Of course you don't have ownership over a name but you're also entitled to feel like it's an odd move."
