One of the most important decisions any parent makes is, of course, what to name their little bundle of joy. Names, after all, come with expectations, and no one wants to give their kid a name that could cause bullying later down the line or a name that they point blank dislike. Let's face it, if your wife has had her heart set on calling her baby Sarah from when she was five years old, but you just so happen to have an evil ex by the same name, you're going put your foot down.
And after deciding to call her "darling daughter" Megan, one Mumsnet user by the name of Blackcelebration73 was more than a little irritated when other people decided to shorten her name to variations including "Meg" and "Meggy".
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So, like many other parents with questions that need to be answered, she took to the parenting forum for second opinions:
"My DD [Darling Daughter] is called Megan," the irritated mom began. "Other people seem to think it's okay to change it to other versions. [Am I right] to think people should call her by the name her parents use & not make names up?! It really bloody irritates me."
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Now, before we get into the replies, this is a conundrum I can relate to. My name's Emma, and when I was little, people constantly tried to shorten it to "Em" or "Emz". My mom was less than impressed and told them that I was only to be called "Emma", and, decades on, I'm really glad that she did, so I can see where this mom was coming from.
The same, however, cannot be said for the other Mumsnet users.
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"Meg as a diminutive for Megan is hardly making names up? If you pick a name with an obvious shortening then I'm afraid you have to expect that people will probably use it. Your DD may also use it when she's older," one user remarked.
"I'm a Megan. I get called all sorts depending on which social group I'm in. You don't own your child's name and she is her own person. It's a good thing people shorten it as it means they have their own relationship with her outside of you," wrote a second user.
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"Hmmmm not sure Megan was a good idea if you don't like the shortening, it's going to happen," added a third.
Other users were less kind with their critical opinions:
"Oh get over yourself. You don't own your daughter, her name or other people's free will, so you call her what you want at home, and others will call her what they want elsewhere and there's fuck all you can about it," wrote one critic.
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"My very difficult MIL pretends to not know who I mean when I refer to my husband as Ben instead of Benjamin. He also refers to himself as Ben. Don't be THAT mother," remarked a second.
So, what do you think? Was this mom right to be irked by people shortening our daughter's name or was she just being ridiculous? Let us know in the comments section!