that's pretty bad

A Mom Rejected The “Worst Name Ever” For Her Baby Girl, But Her Husband Says It’s “Unique”

It sounds kind of like a prescription drug for a rare disease.

by Sarah Aswell
A mother has turned to the internet in order to confirm that Stuarta is a terrible name for a baby.
Getty

Naming a baby is a heavy task. If you mess it up, your kid could be treated differently than others, from being passed over for jobs to being bullied by others. In addition, if you have a partner, you have to find a name that both you and the other parent like. Most parents get through this process fine, if not for a little arguing, but some couples run into an impasse that requires extra work to solve.

That was certainly the case on Reddit’s AITA forum this weekend, when a desperate expecting mother wrote in for immediate help. The issue? Her husband is obsessed with a baby name — and she thinks that it’s the “worst name ever.”

And, reader, it is pretty bad. Maybe not as bad as Meth Rules or Sadman, but still pretty bad.

Here’s what happened. The couple had agreed upon a boy’s name, but found out that it was a girl. And they absolutely do not agree on the husband’s choice.

“See, when we first started talking about names, the ‘boy name’ was immediately decided: Stuart Jr., after my husband,” she begins. “No problem there, it’s a classic name and carries family meaning. But, for a girl, things got murky.”

OK, get ready for it.

“My husband suggested Stuarta,” she confesses. “No, you’re not having a stroke. Apparently, his logic is that since Stuart ends in ‘t,’ we can just add an ‘a’ to make it feminine. I tried explaining why that doesn’t quite work, how it sounds more like a furniture brand than a human name, how she’d be endlessly correcting people and explaining its origin. He’s adamant though, says it ‘honors’ him while giving our daughter a unique name.”

First of all, this woman is hilarious. And secondly, yes. Stuarta does sound like a furniture name.

Or the name of a prescription drug for a rare disease.

Or a sugar substitute.

The expectant mom tried to reason with her husband.

“I’ve suggested alternatives: feminine names that maybe share a similar sound or meaning to Stuart, names he’s mentioned liking in the past, even just going back to the drawing board entirely. But he’s fixated on Stuarta,” she says. “Now, I love my husband dearly, and I understand wanting to honor family. But I can’t imagine subjecting our daughter to a lifetime of awkward stares and endless questions about her ‘unusual’ name. I also worry about potential bullying and the impact it could have on her self-esteem.”

She then asked the internet if she was indeed being an a**hole, or if her husband has lost his marbles. She also asked for help.

“Is there any compromise I haven’t considered? Help a soon-to-be mama out,” she ended.

Down in the comments, many readers stressed that naming a baby need a strong “yes” from both parties.

“Remind him that baby names need a yes from both parents or it’s a no,” one sensible person commented. “You both need to be able to live with whatever you go with. Even if that means both of you missing out on the one you want most.”

Others pushed back against the idea that the husband needed to be “honored” by the baby’s name.

“So do you guys have absolutely zero female relatives who should be honoured with a name,” one person asked. “No worthy females at all who this child could be named after?”

Other people just went off on what a bad name Stuarta is.

“Stuarta sounds like a pharmaceutical product,” one person said. “I can hear the commercials now. ‘In some cases, Stuarta can cause headaches, rashes and even death.’ It doesn’t have a decent nickname. And no, adding an ‘a’ doesn't make it feminine in all cases; this is one of them. I’d go for Stuart as a middle name.”

“I’m speechless. That’s absurd,” another person said. “Normally I’m all for compromises in a relationship, but dear god no. Don’t budge. You can’t subject your daughter to that.”

“It sounds like a word your cousin tried to use in Scrabble during the holidays of 1997 just to try and win the game — they didn’t.”

It sounds like the husband should back down here, for the sake of all involved, especially the unborn baby who may never know how close she came to having an awful name.