'My sister has banned me from seeing my nephew because my dog has the same name'
10 May 2022, 13:24 | Updated: 10 May 2022, 13:33
A man has revealed he’s not allowed to see his newborn nephew because of an argument over his dog.
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A man has found himself in a huge family argument after naming his dog after his sister-in-law's son.
The anonymous Reddit user explained that he had wanted a dog for ages and had always planned to call him Merlin.
But when his pregnant sister-in-law heard the name, she decided she wanted the name for her unborn son instead.
"Three months ago, my wife's sister and her husband were at our house and at the time she was eight months pregnant with a boy,” he said.
“They already have a girl so this was their second kid. They hadn't decided on a name for him at the time.
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"At one point in the conversation I told them that I was going to get a dog finally as I've always wanted one and never had one growing up - I'm 37.
"My wife was really happy I was finally getting my dog. I mentioned that I was going to name him Merlin. I've had that name 'saved' for him since I was a kid."
After the expecting parents fell in love with the name, the man agreed to let them use it but said he would still be calling his dog Merlin too.
The post continued: “They got all mad and told me not to do that as a son was more important.
"I said, who cares if they both have the same name. It's just a dog and I thought of it first and had that name thought of since I was a kid.
"They basically forbid me to name my impending dog Merlin."
After the baby was born, the man adopted a German shepherd from a rescue shelter and used his favourite name.
He said: "I posted pics of Merlin online and immediately started getting texts from my sister-in-law and her husband telling me to rename my dog.
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"My wife and I think it's so silly they're upset - especially since it was my name first.
"They refuse to come over or have us over to see their son Merlin until I officially rename my dog.
"My wife and I refuse to rename Merlin. We absolutely 100 per cent will not rename him."
There were plenty of comments on the post, with one writing: “I think they’re overreacting, I feel like both can have the name and it’s not that weird. But either way you had it first so can’t blame you."
Someone else wrote: "You don't own names. They knew you were going to name your dog that and decided to name the kid."
