'AITA for telling a co-worker it's idiotic to give her twins almost identical names?' UPDATED
"AITA for telling a co-worker that her choice(s) of name for her twins is idiotic?"
Here's the original post:
I cannot believe that there is a spilt opinion for this at my office, but here we go. A co-worker of mine (39F) recently had twin boys after a long battle with infertility. She has made her first appearance into the office with her new babies to introduce them to our team.
When asked what she had named the boys (as up until this appearance she was undecided) she told me that she was naming them "Sean". When I asked about the other baby, she said "no, they are both Sean, one with an "A" and one with an "E" so Sean and Seen".
This co-workers last name is also "Sean". When I pointed this out she said "yes, like Tom Tom or Jay Jay". I immediately and without thinking said "that is the most idiotic thing I've heard, and it's going to be so confusing".
A bunch of people laughed and a bunch immediately looked away. After she left, I got a few text messages saying it's not my place to comment on people's choice of name. Am I the ahole for saying that that is a terrible naming idea?
Edit:
No, they don't have middle names, she wanted their names to be like "Tom Tom, or Jay Jay". This is apparently not the first round of negative feedback she has had. We are on good terms, we have worked together across three companies over 12 years, she just said "it'll grow on you". The names both pronounced "Sean" like "Shawn".
What do you think? Was he wrong to say something?
This is what top commenters had to say about it:
[deleted] said:
That's... so stupid it's going to cause the kids so much grief and the psychological impact of them not being individuals... the one who gets the misspelling of "Seen" which I've never encountered despite spending plenty of time in Ireland, dating Irish people and living in Scotland where there are a lot of non anglophone spellings (Eilidh, etc) it's just BIZARRE.
I thought Sweden was weird for insisting kids names be chosen from an approved list but now I can see why.
lil_Jansk_Hyuza said:
NTA. I've heard many histories of twins with identical names trying to change then cause it's very annoying and for other causes too. It might sound cool but you're not the one who will have to live with this thing, the kids will and it's not as good as it sounds.
You just gave her a opinion and not an request to change them, if she didn't liked it it's her problem cause it really is idiotic.
Kushpapa420x said:
NTA. At least Sean Sean will have Seen Sean to understand the shit he’ll have to deal with when they’re older. I can’t wait until she has 4 more Sean’s, because then there’s 8 Sean’s. She’s building her army of Sean’s right under everyone’s eyes.
And HuckleberryLou said:
I feel bad for both kids, but feel the very worst for Seen. NTA.
Verdict: NTA
Well, apparently his co-worker found the post (?!). But don't worry, there's a happy ending. He later shared this update:
My co-workers husband (who is also a co-worker) saw the post last night. 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 new borns left them too tired to think straight.
Despite the fact they had already sent off the paperwork to birth deaths and marriages office (the place you lodge births for in Australia), they called up the Brisbane office and the paperwork had only been provisionally processed (due to Xmas time), and they have used this time to reassess.
They have withdrawn the paperwork (FOR SEEN ONLY) and will think of a new name, but they are keeping Sean Sean as they like it. I have also been reported to HR for making this reddit post (not by the parents, they think it's hilarious) so well well, if it's isn't the consequences of my actions.
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 an AH, that's more of an in general thing than tied to this situation".
Happy holidays to everyone!
Happy holidays to everyone, especially the twins formerly known as Sean and Seen!