‘My brother and his fiancée stole the baby name I made up – I’m upset’

A baby name has caused quite a stir in a family . While one brother planned to use the moniker for his own future baby, another brother swept in and stole it.

Devastated by his older brother’s decision, the young man who had created the baby name and was stowing it away for years took to Reddit to detail the story.

He said: “When I (19M) was 12 I started making up baby names for my future kids. Both my brother (26M) and I have unique names and I wanted my kids to have unique names as well.

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“I always wanted kids and I've just always had this vision in my head. I want three kids in total.”

The poster clarified that “Riley” was a filler name, and not his actual chosen baby name.

They wrote: “When I first started saying I wanted my first born son's name to be ‘Riley’ my family hated the name and even told me it was stupid. But over time they actually started to like it and it grew on them. My parents use to joke around about how they couldn't wait to have a little Riley running around.

“My girlfriend (21F) and I have been together for a little over 4 years. Making 5 this October. When my brother and his fiancée announced that they were expecting their first child I was happy for them. They were having trouble coming up with names and were asking people for ‘suggestions.’

“They were always ‘thanking’ me for my help which I now find f—-- up and disingenuous. When it was time for my brother's fiancée to give birth they still never had a set name picked out but I just assumed it would be one of the names that was suggested to them.”

Instead, the male soon found out the name was something that completely rubbed him the wrong way.

He wrote: “Nope. They f------ took my son's Identity. Middle name and all. I don't really care about the middle name though, it's the first name that I cared about. When I found out, I was PISSED and they knew it. Even some of my family members were upset on my behalf. My brother and his fiancée told me that they just couldn't decide on a name and my brother's fiancée found it pretty so they decided to go with that one.”

The man’s brother and his fiancee tried apologizing for stealing the name, but it did not smooth things over.

The man explained: “They kept apologizing to me. I didn't forgive them then and I still don't. I'm not even joking and I'm not trying to be dramatic at all but this is the MOST disrespectful thing someone has ever done to me. I used to get bullied a lot in school and this hurts worse. I feel betrayed by my brother and I lost respect for them. My brother's fiancée didn't owe me any loyalty but I felt like he did.

“My parents (and family) are upset not at me but just at the entire situation I guess. They have been trying to get me to get over it and forgive my brother but I just seriously can't right now. I'm not saying that I won't in the future (maybe?) but as of now it is what it is and I'm sticking by that.

“I've been told that I can always name my son the same name but that DEFEATS THE PURPOSE of it being a unique name in the first place.

“The other two names I made are mixture of ugly and okay I guess so they stole the only name I liked and I can't help but be mad. I've been told that being mad is going to be bad for my nephew in the future but I don't see how. I'm not mad at my nephew I'm mad at his parents. I even held him and it made more upset at his parents because it reminded me why I wanted kids in the first place.”

The man explained that the situation didn’t sit right with his girlfriend either.

He wrote: “My girlfriend is upset as well and she holds grudges. She has been saying a lot of negative things about them to me and she told me that they were ungrateful and she's upset that they lied to everyone when they were asking for help with names knowing that they were gonna steal the name that we actually liked. My brother and his fiancée said that it was last minute...but I'm not sure how truthful that is and my girlfriend is refusing to believe it.

“Am I being dramatic? If I am I'm just gonna have to accept it I guess but I can't turn off how I feel and I don't think I'm going to stop feeling like this for a long time.”

Reddit users chimed in with their opinions on the names.

One social media user wrote: “If they are that sorry, they will change the name. I wouldn't forgive them or speak to them until they do. Tell your parents that they need to accept that until your brother fixes what he's done, this is the situation. If they want to bully someone into changing the situation, they need to tell your brother to change the name, or keep their mouths shut.”

Another individual chimed in: “I have a made up names. I made them up as a kid gaming. I have not told anyone for this very reason. People be stealing names when they have kids.”

Someone else said: “For me it would be a trust issue. If your brother has no qualms about stealing something so important to you, what else would he do? They’re only apologizing because other people in the family were upset also. If they were truly sorry they’d fix the situation.”

And another person added: “Tell your brother that as soon as his kid is old enough to understand you will be explaining to him that his name was stolen.”