BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Baby Names Is it OK to steal a baby name?

A "Dear Annie" letter published yesterday brought up the issue of name stealing.

The writer (who was not expecting) said that she revealed her favorite baby name, Alex, to her sister-in-law (SIL). One week later, the SIL announced she was pregnant and would name the baby Alex if it ended up being a boy.

How do you feel about this situation? Was the SIL wrong, or is it no big deal that she planned to use the name?

I think it was mean of the SIL to do that therefore it is not okay. If the lady who had shared her favored name had been told by the SIL that the SIL was looking for ideas for her baby's name and would use the name that was shared with her if she really liked it, it would be okay then if the lady shared her favored name with this knowledge. It does not sound like that was the situation or there would not be the question of whether it was okay or not. I am sure that the idea of sharing information with the SIL has been soured now.

That is so annoying and so common.

I agree. I told my SIL if I had a girl, I wanted to name her Jade Aubrey (Aubrey being after my great grandfather). I now have a neice named Aubrey Kathleen. We now have a new name and are keeping it to ourselves this time.

I didn't realize this was so common, haha.

My sister just told our cousin a name she liked and now it's their preferred choice!

I guess you have to keep your baby names to yourself! You would think parents would want to come up with the name on their own.