Choosing a name for your new baby is naturally a high-stakes process that comes with many complications. Maybe you and your partner disagree on the perfect name, or you feel pressured to use a family name you don’t particularly like. And it doesn’t help at all when the people around you offer their unsolicited, unwanted advice on what to name your baby. 

But if the stories on Reddit are to be believed, it seems that nosy family members and friends are constantly casting doubt on expectant parents’ choices. And these interactions seem to always end in conflict, tension, and even severed ties. 

In a recent Reddit post, a pregnant woman asked if she would be wrong to give her baby an “outdated” name. She writes she and her husband overcame the first hurdle of baby naming: They actually agree on a name, Audrey.

The couple were so confident in their name choice, which evokes classic Hollywood movie stars like Audrey Hepburn, that they announced their choice at the baby shower. 

“One of my sisters told me it was an 'outdated name' and that [our daughter would] get bullied for having a name like that,” the OP wrote. Her sister refused to drop the subject; eventually causing so much distress that it led to her getting kicked out of the baby shower. 

But the drama didn’t end there. The sister continued to harass OP to the point that she decided to block her on social media. 

Reddit commenters called the name Audrey elegant. As one commenter put it, “Audrey is one of those timeless, classic names that is rarely hyper trendy but always around. It's a really lovely, solid choice.”

Others wondered about the sister’s motive. “It sure sounds like she was trying to keep the name for herself, which is why she was so adamant about you not using it,” wrote one commenter. 

Of course most people commenting on the post urged her to not get advice from her sister. The discussion also brought up the question no one seems to be able to answer: Why do people get so invested in other peoples’ baby names that they risk offending the new parents?

In this case, the OP’s confidence in her name choice was so shaken that she had to seek validation from a bunch of strangers on the internet. 

It could be that there is additional context or complicated history with the OP's sister that contributed to such an extreme reaction. But all we can do is guess. And even if (and that's a big IF) OP's daughter were to be bullied because of her name, that's an issue for the child's parents to figure out—it's no one else's business.

Some toxic family members might get so caught up in exerting control or power over a situation, that they can't help but belittle others–including the people they love. 

If that’s the case in this relationship, OP was right to block her sister. Though the argument was about a baby name this time, the next argument could be about something even more impactful.

No matter what the reasoning, I’m with one commenter who wrote, “The more stories I hear about this kind of thing, the more I understand why expecting parents keep the baby name to themselves until the birth certificate is signed and official.”