A MOM confessed she’s plagued with regret after going ahead with giving her baby girl an old German name.
She said trying to agree with her husband on a moniker for their daughter was a challenge.
The mom asked for advice about the situation in a forum post on the pregnancy site What To Expect.
She and her husband have “opposite” tastes in names, which has made choosing one for each of their five children difficult.
“I go for more old-school (think grandparent) names and he likes the trendy/unique,” she said, writing under the handle Chaitea.
“We’ve never really had one that we both loved and that neither of us hated.
“With this baby, we vetos each other’s name to the point that all we had left was Ottilie and Echo (I didn’t love either).
“We did some votes, Ottilie won. She’s turning 5 months this week and I kept hoping it would grow on me but it hasn’t.
“No one understands what I’m saying when I say it, no one can spell it, it’s frustrating because it’s not even a name I like.”
The mom said she’s becoming “resentful” as her husband has refused to change their daughter’s name.
She revealed that throughout her pregnancy he picked 15 “unique” names and rejected her lengthy list of suggestions.
“I’ll say ooo Iove Caroline! And he’ll say ‘Oh that’s terrible! What about Ridley!’” she said.
“We thought Ottilli was good common ground since it’s a bit of both and I actually agreed to it since it’s not made up.
“It’s almost in the top 100 in the UK and is a very old German name.
“I thought even if not common, people would recognize it as a name, but boy was I wrong!
“I feel like people look at me like I named her ‘spoon’ or something and then I have to clarify over and over because they think it’s so weird or hard to say.”
The mom said she’s tried pronouncing the name in different ways but it still doesn’t work.
According to The Bump, Ottilie is a German-derived baby girl’s name meaning “prosperity.”
It has increased in popularity in recent years with UK-based influencer Zoe Sugg choosing it for her daughter.
Lottie and Tillie are among the nicknames associated with Ottilie.
Responses to the post were divided, with the majority of commenters eager to suggest ways to tweak the name.
“Ottoline? Otto is VERY masculine,” one person said.
“Why not something beautiful and feminine like Caroline? Emeline? Madeline? Natalie?
“Respectfully, I’m so confused about how you pronounce her name in general.
“It sounds completely made up and she will spend her whole life correcting people. I would change her name.”
However, another member of the forum argued the mom should pick a nickname rather than change her daughter’s name.
“Oh my goodness she is so cute, I see a little Tilly,” she said, referring to a photo of the baby.
“Ottilie is precious and she has a variety of nicknames she can use. I would not change her name.”
The mom was delighted with the nickname suggestion and thanked the commenter.
“I think we’re just going to call her Tilly,” she said. “It’s so hard because I think it may be a geographical problem after researching more online.
“I have no doubt we’d have no trouble in the UK or parts of the US, but we’re in Arizona.”
