Writer refuses to change name of book character after sister steals it for baby name
‘She kept his name secret up until he was born just a few days ago,’ writer says
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A writer said that she refused to change the name of her book’s main character despite her sister using it to name her son.
In a post shared on the Am I the A**hole forum on Reddit, an author explained that her sister had stolen the name of one of her main characters to use for her newborn son. She explained that she’s been working on a book for the past five years, and has named the first main character an “uncommon name.”
She continued that when her sister stayed with her for a couple of months in 2021, she often talked with her about her book and its characters. However, this year her sister - who is already a mother to three daughters - gave birth to a boy with the same name as the author’s main character.
“She kept his name secret up until he was born just a few days ago and she named him the same name as my book character,” she wrote. “I thought all was well and fine until she came to me asking me to change the name of my character since she ‘doesn’t want him to be associated with a book for his whole life.’”
At first, the writer thought her sister was joking, but when she said no, her sister got really mad. She wrote, “She got really mad at me saying I was going to ruin the name for my entire family when I published my book.”
In the comment section, most people sided with the writer, with some writing that this should have been discussed before the sister gave birth.
“This is something she should have talked to you about before taking that name,” one person wrote, to which the original poster replied: “Right??? Like I would have been 1000% fine with it, honored even but it was just that she got mad at me for not changing it.”
Some noted that the sister was “shady” for deliberately hiding which name she was going to choose.
“She’s so shady that’s why she hid the name,” another person pointed out.
“She kept it a secret specifically so she could try to force you out of the name,” someone else added.
“She could have picked LITERALLY any other name, ever, from anywhere in space and time,” one person noted. “She made a choice to pick THAT name. That was her call. You are not required to change a damn thing. If she didn’t want her kid to be associated with a book his whole life, she should have picked a different name. The entitlement is unreal.”
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