Soon-to-Be Mom Is Accused of Ruining Her Baby’s Life Due to “Wrong” Choice of Name
Oceana.
According to Baby Name DNA, Oceana is a girl name that has a Greek origin that means “ocean.” It is the female version of Oceanus, the god of the sea, and the name of the only child who was born during the 17th-century journey of the Mayflower from England to Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Moreover, the variation Oceane has been one of the most chic names in France for quite a long while. And Ocean has been likewise adopted by many parents as a name for their babies, whether boy or girl.
However, the name Oceana is hated by her older pregnant sister according to a soon-to-be mom who wrote about her dilemma on Reddit’s r/AmITheA**hole.
Calling herself u/Longjumping-Base-926, OP related that her older sister already has a 3-year-old daughter and is now expecting a son. Their family has already made an announcement of the baby’s name back in April, and her sister now wanted to know what name she would be giving her own baby.
OP told her older sister that she wanted to call her unborn baby girl Oceana. Her sister’s reaction was surprisingly of intense dislike, and she started recommending other names like Margaret and Beatrice. But OP answered that there was no way she and her husband would change their mind; they wanted the name Oceana right from the start.
OP did not expect what her older sister would do next and was saddened to find out the following: “She went into a FB mommy group and shared the name with moms and moms to be in there and wanted people to help her figure out how to change my mind,” continued OP. “She went on a long a-s rant about how my taste in names is terrible and how she’s shocked I would like a name like this. That I am ruining my child’s life. I am rejecting all the beautiful, lovely names of the last several years. That her *gatha and *ugene are going to be envied and hated by my child and all future kids of mine for their gorgeous names. Someone I know is in the group and sent me screenshots of the post. She made sure that stayed up top for over a week with all her complaints and rantings. She also had some people more than willing to help.”
Ultimately, OP had to tell her older sister to focus on the names of her own kids and that she needed to “get over it and stop ranting to the world.”
Her sister accused her of insulting her kids’ names and of being rude to her, claiming that their family would be hating her baby because of her ugly name.
Interestingly, during this period of the pandemic, many parents have named their babies COVID, and there has not been much news of any backlash.
The post has been upvoted more than 10,000, times and many Reddit users are siding with OP.
“In France, there are loads of Océane (French equivalent), it just means from the ocean and is a normal name… I don’t see why she’d be burdened,” writes one commenter.
“I’m with you on this. Maybe I’ve spent too much time working in public education, but this didn’t even register (to me) as “out there.” No eye twitches from me! There’s also a poet named Ocean; I assumed this was the feminine version,” said another.
“I agree. At least I wouldn’t have to figure out how to pronounce it. Kids will probably shorten it though, as they often do with names. I have a relative whose name is Octavian–his little peers call him Tavie for short; his parents call him O. I mean, if people name their kids Raine, and Forest, and River, why not Ocean. So, OP, NTA. But if it were my sis, I’d tell her flat out that yes, *gatha and *ugene (I am assuming Agatha and Eugene?) are names (not particularly thrilling, just ok) and so are Rosemary, Vivienne, Francesca, Lilian, Martha, Geraldine (all old names–ok if you like them, I guess: I have 90+ year old aunts named a few of them) but that you want something else, and the bottom line is–you name your kid, she names hers and it is none of her business. Then, hide her chit on your facebook so it doesn’t rile you up and make you defensive,” another caring Reddit user says.
