'I refuse to let my sister into my daughter's life over her choice of baby name'

26 February 2024 , 10:47

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The sisters' relationship has completely fallen apart (Image: Getty Images/Image Source)

A new mum has defended her decision to cut her sister out of her baby daughter's life after a row over their children's names.

The siblings are two years apart in age and have had a difficult - and fiercely competitive - relationship from childhood.

According to the elder sister, *Kelly has always tried to copy her or 'one-up' her, from joining every sport and club she was in to 'beat her', to bragging that she had 'better friends' because she was in the popular crowd.

"Anyway, Kelly and I were both pregnant at the same time," the sister wrote on Reddit. "I was pregnant first, and once my partner and I found out the gender, we decided to use a name that I've loved since I was little: Josephine.

"Kelly knows that this is my dream baby name, and I thought that she'd have enough respect to consider this one name as off limits, but no. Two weeks later, she and her boyfriend announced that they were pregnant with baby Josie. I called her up to ask if she was really going to name her baby the same name as mine, and she smugly said that I was free to change my baby's name because she hadn't been born yet, never mind that she was less far along than I was."

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Six months ago, the older sister welcomed her daughter - and, sticking to her guns, called her Josephine. She happily announced the birth on social media.

"To my horror, the very next week, Kelly posted a picture of some custom blankets she'd ordered with the name Josie on them, 'for (her) little JoJo', which is a nickname my partner and I used for our Josephine in our post.

"I called her again to basically tell her to change her plans for her baby's name because my Josephine had already been born and her name is on the birth certificate. I told Kelly bluntly that I was calling her bluff, and she told me that she wasn't bluffing, and that I was free to change my baby's name or else there would be two JoJos in the family. I called her a huge narcissist and told her that she wasn't welcome in my baby JoJo's life if she went through with stealing my JoJo’s name."

Just two weeks later, "Kelly gave birth to her baby Josie. I didn't contact her at all, not to offer support or to tell her off for stealing my baby's name. I figured that she was in recovery and that I shouldn’t stress her out immediately after giving birth.

"Last week, Kelly called me up because she wanted to come over and meet my baby now that she's six months old. I asked if she'd changed her baby's name, and she confusedly said no. I reminded Kelly of what I'd told her back before our babies had been born, and she called me an "unreasonable b***h". Now the whole family is up in arms against me for not letting my sister meet her niece. Am I the a*****e here?"

Unsurprisingly people had a lot to say on the matter - and Kelly did not fare well. "Not the a*****e. This seems like the last straw for your relationship. Why would you let that crazy woman around your daughter? She is just trying to set up the sibling competition 2.0," one remarked.

"Tell your family Kelly won't meet your daughter and they won't see her either unless they stand down. The time for them to be up in arms was when Kelly came up with her crazy plan and that time is past. Seriously, how could your parents not call her out on this? How could her boyfriend not?"

A second agreed: "I would tell the parents there will be no family events if she's invited. Raise your JoJo, let her have a strong relationship with dad's family and invite your parents for supervised visitation in your home so that Kelly can't be sprung on you."

And a third wrote: "Tell your family you're done with the constant competitions, and since they didn't put a stop to it when you were kids, you're putting a stop to it now, before Kelly passes it on to the next generation."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.