A woman has been slammed for naming her new kitten after her grandson following a viral post on the popular discussion site Mumsnet.
Shared on Sunday by user JKT007, the story has prompted reaction from Mumsnet users who flooded to the comments and has garnered over 230 responses.
The poster asked: “Am I being unreasonable to think it’s very odd that my mother-in-law named her kitten the same name as our son?”
FamVeld/Getty Images
She went on to explain: “She announced it on Facebook. I haven’t actually spoken to her since because I’m just not sure what to say. On one hand, I’m thinking I don’t want to say something I may regret, and on the other hand, I’m like, this is f***ing odd to me! I would never name my pet after a family member and none of my friends or family have had this happen to them so I’m unsure how to broach the subject.”
“It’s very, very odd,” wrote one commenter. “You don’t have to be very imaginative to understand that some new parents would find that insulting so… just why? With all the millions of other options available, why that name?”
Another user wrote: “It’s a bit odd. You should get a chinchilla and name it after her. After all, she doesn’t own the name.”
According to pet sitter and dog-walking site Rover’s Top Cat Names 2021 list, some of the most popular cat names in the last year included Luna, Oliver, Bella, Leo, Milo, and Charlie. Meanwhile, it wasn’t uncommon for cats to take on the names of famous people—with cats named Yeezy up by 516 percent and kitties called Doja or Doja Cat trending up 176 percent.
Meanwhile, Babycenter’s name rankings for babies in 2021 recorded the favorites for the year including Liam, Olivia, Noah, Ava, Oliver, and Lucas.
One Mumsnet user shared a similar experience and wrote: “My dad named his new puppy the same as my 6-month-old son. I was properly angry at first, but as my son got older he loved it, considers the dog ‘his’ because of it.”
Another commenter joked: “You’re unreasonable for naming your son Tibbles/Lucky/Felix.”
While the Mumsnet user didn’t share the name in question, some replies suggested that the family take it as a compliment. One said: “It’s a slightly odd thing to have done, but I don’t think it’s harmful and I would interpret it as affectionate behavior. She adores your son so much that she’s named her kitten after him.”
In April, the internet was horrified by a new parent’s plan to name their child after a weapon with a rather unusual spelling.
