A bloke is worried that his niece will be mocked at school after learning what her parents plan to call her.
His bother and sister-in-law revealed that they had decided to name their baby girl an Indian name which has a beautiful meaning.
However, in English, it has some questionable connotations which he worried would cause her to be bullied and resent her mum and dad.
The parents-to-be decided to name their newborn “Aanal” – which means “fire” – after the brother’s late wife.
However, he urged them not to do this.
Do you think the family should choose a different name? Tell us why in the comments…
He explained his reasoning on Reddit, and wrote: “My older brother and sister-in-law are due with their first baby in the next few months.
“We’re an Indian family and they plan to name their child for my deceased wife, Aanal.
“Obviously, I completely feel for my SIL but I ended up saying that a name like Aanal wouldn’t work well in a country like America because of obvious reasons and the risk of mispronunciations.”
He continued: “It’s a fine name in India and it’s beautiful but their daughter would just get mercifully bullied in America.
“The issue is that they don’t live in India, they live in the wealthiest part of Dallas, Texas, they have the money and the plans to send their daughter to an expensive private Christian school, and their neighborhood is majority white, blonde, and wealthy.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
The bloke explained that he was mocked for his name at school.
He said: “I have an American name, I was called Aaron at school and Aadith at home.
“I got called A-A-Ron plenty of times throughout school and I don’t want my little niece to grow up and start being bullied,
“A-A-Ron was annoying to me, A-A-A-Nal is a million times worse.
“I’m an immigrant and when I’d go back to India in the summers, I went by Aadith and when I was in the USA for the rest of the year, I was Aaron.
“I had more opportunities and I was able to respect my heritage.”
He suggested that his brother give the child an Americanised name like Anna and then use Aanal when they visit India or at home.
The couple blew up at him and insisted they would use the name, which he thought ironic as his wife went by Annabeth in America.
He said: “My sister in law said that she wouldn’t speak to me again until I legitimately apologised to her and meant it sincerely and I finally told her to not come complaining to me later on in the game.”
The comments were divided.
One person said: “Oooohhhhh. Yeah. Aanal is a beautiful name that will 100% be a source of constant bullying to your niece if she is raised in Dallas, in a largely white community.
“Even well-meaning people with no ill intentions are going to mess this up.”
While another wrote: “I’d drop this argument with them though; there’s nothing you can do about it beyond raising your concerns with them.
“Your niece will fight this battle in time.”
