A writer said she refused to change the name of the main character in her book even though her sister used 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 has been working on a book for the past five years and has given the first main character an “unusual name.”
She went on to say that when her sister stayed with her for a couple of months in 2021, she often talked to her about her book and its characters. However, this year her sister, who is already the mother of three daughters, gave birth to a boy with the same name as the author's main character.
“She kept his name a secret until he was born just a few days ago and gave him the same name as the character in my book,” he wrote. “I thought everything was fine until she came to me and asked me to change my character's name since she 'doesn't want her to be associated with a book for her entire life.'”
At first, the writer thought her sister was joking, but when she said no, her sister became very angry. She wrote: “She got very angry with me saying that she was going to ruin my entire family's name when she published my book.”
In the comments section, most people sided with the writer, with some writing that this should have been discussed before the sister gave birth.
“This is something I should have told you about before taking that name,” one person wrote, to which the original poster replied, “right??? Like I was 1000% fine with that, even an honor, but it was just that she got angry with me for not changing it.”
Some noted that the sister was “shady” for deliberately hiding what name she was going to choose.
“She's so shady that's why she hid the name,” another person noted.
“He kept it a secret specifically so he could try to force you to reveal the name,” someone else added.
“She could have LITERALLY chosen any other name, anywhere in space and time,” one person noted. “She made the decision to choose THAT name. That was her decision. You are not obligated to change anything. If she didn't want her son to be associated with a book her entire life, she should have chosen a different name. The law is unreal.”
