Giving your baby a name is a hard decision that will have life-long consequences, so you have to consider all the connotations the name has, how it can be shortened, what nicknames it has, what other people have that name, and so on.
But sometimes parents love a name so much, they don’t even realize how many problems it could bring to their child. A future mother shared her frustrations on Reddit about how her husband is ignoring the fact his chosen name will make people associate his kid with a serial killer and got offended by his wife’s resistance, so she asked if she was the delusional one after explaining the situation.
More info: Reddit
Picking a name for your child is hard because because of all the connotations it can have, like reminding people of a serial killer
Image credits: Bruna Rabello (not the actual photo)
The original poster is a 35-year-old woman who is expecting a baby. She finally got pregnant with her 37-year-old husband after trying for a decade while trying to combat infertility and experiencing miscarriages, so the couple is very excited.
Being pregnant is not a field trip, but there are more relaxing activities like dreaming about what the baby will be like, what kind of person they will grow up into or what their interests will be. There is also a lot of time to think about what name you would like to call them and what nicknames they could have.
Image credits: [deleted]
It is not unusual to search for names in the family and give children their grandparents' name. This family was planning on doing just that as the husband really loved his grandfather and unfortunately, he passed away a week before the OP wrote this story.
Grandpa’s name was Theodore and it’s a name that would work both for a boy and if it’s a girl, she would be named Theodora. The problem is that the family’s last name is Bounde, which is pronounced [bun-dee]. Just like the infamous and feared serial killer Ted Bundy.
This future mom was talking about names with her husband and unfortunately, his beloved grandpa died recently
Image credits: [deleted]
Ted Bundy is a pretty-well known name, but if you’re confused why it is not great for a kid to have a name resembling this particular one, then you should know that that man kidnapped, assaulted and murdered about 30 women. At least that’s how many he confessed to, but police suspect that the number might be higher.
He operated in seven states in the US between 1974 and 1978 and he actually had a pleasant face and was considered charismatic, so he had no trouble luring in his victims. However, his nature was much more cruel and he even kept some of his victims’ heads in his apartment as trophies.
Judging from the comments under the post, and there were nearly 5k of them, people still know this name and the first thing that comes to mind after hearing the name is the serial killer. He is so well known that there are quite a few movies made about him.
Somehow the husband didn’t see the issue with it because in his mind, the most important Teddy Bounde was his grandfather, and his child would just be named after him. However, the wife was convinced that others won’t perceive it that way because the only Ted Bundy they know is the one that killed people.
That made the husband think they should honor him by giving the grandpa's name to their baby
Image credits: [deleted]
The problem was that the grandpa's name was Theodore and the child's last name would be Bounde, which is pronounced the same way as Bundy, the serial killer
Image credits: [deleted]
The wife’s resistance only showed the husband that she hates his grandpa, even though she just wanted people to not associate her child with a really cruel criminal. What is more, the husband’s family was on his side and wanted the child to have the beloved grandpa’s name.
Luckily, at least the OP’s parents are on her side and understand the consequences that such a name could have on this baby because who will stop and think of any other reason parents would give their child a name that sounds just like the infamous killer’s?
The wife protested the name but the husband got mad that she hated his grandpa, which was not the case at all
Image credits: Fort George G. Meade Public Affairs Office
Finally, the husband got some sense put into him when even his brother who loved his grandpa as much as him started saying the same thing
Image credits: [deleted]
The wife kind of lost her patience and told her husband that his suggestion is “idiotic at best, sociopathic at worst” which didn’t help him see her point and made him think that his wife hated the person who he adored so much. That is why the OP thinks that she might have been the jerk in the situation.
Redditors didn’t think that and very well understood that it would be wrong to make it seem that a child was named after a serial killer, even if that was not the case, because nobody would care about the true origin of it. Kids and even adults get bullied for more normal names than this one, so if it can be avoided, the future mom has to stand her ground and enlighten her husband and his family about how serious this is.
Image credits: [deleted]
The couple found out the baby will be a boy, so they decided to still honor the husband's grandpa but give their son his middle name, Silas
Image credits: [deleted]
In an update we found out that the story had a happy ending and to avoid such fights in the future, the couple decided to try out marriage counseling
Image credits: [deleted]
It seems that she succeeded in doing this because the OP posted a happy update. Turns out, her husband talked to his brother and SIL who managed to explain to him that a name can have a huge effect on someone’s life, especially because they also live in the area where the crimes took place, where the killer was arrested and then even broke out of prison.
The OP guesses that her husband just needed to hear that from someone who loved his grandpa as much as he did and who was grieving as painfully. After that, they both apologized to each other for the way they spoke and agreed to go to marriage counseling, as well as grief counseling to learn to deal with the loss of a loved one, because it was probably the pain that clouded the husband’s judgment.
Image credits: [deleted]
In the end, in order to pick a name, the couple decided to find out the baby’s gender even though they didn’t plan to, however, it was necessary at that point. When they got the news that it’s a boy, the parents both agreed that they would still honor the grandpa by giving their child his middle name, which was Silas.
We would like to know if you would have agreed to name your child Teddy Bounde or you would feel too uncomfortable about the similarity to the serial killer’s name? Do you think the mom was being too dramatic and inconsiderate? Or was she too soft in her tone? Let us know the thoughts you had while reading the comments!