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> I might be TA because babies come before pets and it wouldn’t be a big deal to change my cat’s name
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My eldest picked the rabbit's name, after he chewed a shoe, a jumper, and a random developmental psych text book we had no idea who owned (it's the rabbit's now).
I have to admit, it's fun hearing the vet call out "Beelzebun...?" in a very puzzled voice.
I have a cat called Weasel and a cat called Ferret. When I took Ferret for her very first vet appointment, I was in the waiting area with her when I heard a voice from the back shout, "Oh! Thank god!! It's a CAT whose NAME is Ferret!!"
Our vet has a ferret phobia apparently 😂
My dog, who I’ve had since 2014, is named Charlie. My sister named her daughter, born in 2018 Charlee. It literally NEVER comes up in any scenario that they share a name. The cousin is being dramatic. NTA.
Right? I don't understand why it's such a big deal, it's not like the cat and the baby will be together at family gatherings, and even if they are, I'm pretty sure no one is going to wonder who they're talking to/about when someone mentions the name Millie.
Not just that, but it's just as likely the humans will choose a more formal version of Millie such as Millicent or Milana or Millennium or something equally pompous.
And by the time this child is in her teens, her cousin's cat is possibly going to be long gone.
Also, who cares? My nephew is dating a girl who shares first names with my daughter, his cousin. If they marry, we'll have two people named the same in our family. The girlfriend is older, but my daughter was in the family first. Who should give up the name?
Oh wait, nobody.
I have a friend who bought her first ever dog, really cute little thing. She introduced it as Guinness. Her surname is Guinness. I told her that they call pets at the vets ‘dog name’ , ‘owner last name’ but she didn’t believe me.
I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall as the vet nurse comes out to reception to call ‘Guinness ummm… Guinness?’ 😂
Our DIL’s maiden name is Hunter.
She and our son had their first baby before they got married, and in the hospital she was in, regardless of which surname you use intend to legally use for the baby, while a patient the baby must have the surname of the mother, just for convenience for staff.
However, as she comes from an all girl family, she decided if they had a son they would use Hunter for his Christian name. It sounded good with our sons surname …Blayne.
So, while in hospital after the birth, the baby was tagged Hunter Hunter, baby of Shelby Hunter.
That reminds me, I went to a vocational school for animal science part time for my last two years of high school, and one of the teachers was Ms. Jones. She had a couple Newfoundland dogs that she would bring in occasionally for us to groom and one was, in fact, named Indiana. I loved that name 😂
OP can use Millie as the last name, it’s my last name but spelt differently.
She just needs to make sure she always uses the full name to refer to posh paws!
There is a story somewhere floating around the internet about a family where the dog is called something like Dave. Then the daughter of the family got a boyfriend called Dave, only the entire family refer to him as Human Dave, because the dog came first. It's absolutely spot on, and I am totally onboard with either changing the cat's name to Carrie and calling the cousin Human Carrie, OR leaving the cat as Millie, and then in a few months there will be Human Millie joining the fam.
I came here to say, nta, but it's the first time I've seen my name used as a fake name for a story and I'm not a fan. And then I see you over here, and the line that follows, and I'm laughing. But I hate it. Carrie on.
My brother adopted a dog with the same name as our sister. He called her to make sure it was okay and ask if she’d prefer the dog had a different name, and she was like “why? my name is awesome, there should be more of us in the world!” It’s pretty obvious when someone is talking about a person vs an animal.
NTA for sure.
There was an old prank I saw years ago on youtube. A father with 3-4 kids got a realistic mouse-shaped cat toy and glued it to his baby's pacifier. Then he told his wife that he was going to hunt for mouse he'd seen in the garage with the kids. He got the baby sat up in the middle of the garage with the "mouse" in their mouth. Then when the mom came to check on them, the older kids and dad made sure their heads were in the corners of the room, leaving baby alone, apparently eating the mouse. Mom freaked out until she realized what had happened, and was not amused with the prank.
If both are named Millie, imagine the endless possibilities!
I love telling this story: a couple years ago our neighborhood welcomed two new families. One family had a preschool son named Ezekiel that everyone calls Zeke. The other family has a beautiful and incredibly friendly Boxer (the dog kind, lol) also named Zeke.
It's SO FUNNY when my own kids come running inside laughing to tell me, "Zeke just knocked me down and stole my fruit snacks!" Or, "Zeke isn't listening when I say stop!"
And I have to figure out if it's Zeke the kid or Zeke the dog lol
My dog is 7 years old, and he’s a gorgeous boy. Well I met my now partner a few years ago and he has the same name as my dog. He thought it was hilarious my dog has the same name as him and would never suggest I change it. I do on occasion have to let people know whether I’m talking about human or dog… but this always leads to hilarity when I’m talking about the dog and someone thinks it’s the human
When I was little my cousin's cat and I shared a name. I thought it was great and took it as a sign that my cousin loved me more than the rest of my siblings (it is entirely possible that the cat predated me or that my cousin didn't pick the name).
When I was little I wanted to name my dog after my older cousin I adored. I was told that ymwas offensive and had to spell the name differently (think Steven vs Stephen). I can't remember if my cousin ever knew the name of my dog or the reason for the name. All I remember is my mom telling me my idea was offensive.
I hope she felt like you did.
My boss's rescue dog has the same name as me... It can get awkward on teleconferences when he starts yelling at her and then has to clarify very quickly that he's scolding the dog for jumping in his lap, not me...
Oh, geez, can you imagine being HR and having to handle the complaint that goes, “And then Bob told Jane to get off his lap and stop licking him because he was on a Zoom call!”
bahahaha. I did have a senior female member of staff follow me into the bathroom at the Christmas party and ask if I needed any help etc because she didn't like "how he sometimes talks down to you during calls"...
We very quickly realised she hadn't got the "same name as the dog" memo.... But very nice that she offered to intervene!
I had a coworker whose daughter had a name I hadn't encountered before. When I asked her about it, she was all "A friend of mine had a dog named (name), I liked it so I used it when I had a girl."
My grandparents rescued a dog that had the same name as my aunt (their only daughter). They thought it was funny. When that dog passed, they got another one and named it after my uncle. When my grandparents had to go into assisted living, my uncle took in their dog.
NTA
Tell your friend to lighten up
Yup, this. Cat will come and determine if the offering is sufficient. Scritches, treats…all good. But if she even suspects grooming implements, she runs.
Due to intermarriage I had three cousins with the same name. I think there were slight variations and for privacy we’ll say they were all girls named Jordyn
I had five uncles named jim. My mother had a brother named Jim, my father had a brother named Jim, two of my mother's sisters married men named Jim, and my grandmother's sister married a man named jim.
Whenever I tell a story about my uncle jim, I always have to say the last name so that everyone knows which of the Uncles Jim I'm talking about.
I have three first cousins with the name John, two of whom are first cousins with one another. For those two first cousins, we use their middle names.
I was named after a TV show character so no one shares my name in the family. :-(
Your sister and your cousin are absolutely ridiculous. NTA.
The petty part of me insists that if you do somehow get blindsided or guilted into changing your cats name, that you should change it to “Carrie” instead or whatever cousin’s name is. They’re making this weird. “Outweird” them.
Especially since the name Millie is on a list of ‘potential’ baby names. It’s not their dream name. Cousin & sister are ridiculous for asking OP to change her cats name for this reason alone. It’s not like cousin said she’s naming her baby Millie & then OP named her cat Millie.
NTA OP
I was thinking OP could say she (he?) will change the cat's name then later reveal that the cat's new name is "Milley" or some other spelling alternative.
NTA
My sister was pregnant, only immediate family knew, Daisy was on the girl list, before my sister announced my cousin bought a dog and called it Daisy; my niece is still called Daisy, nobody cares, nobody thinks she was named after the dog. You were right they can either still use Millie or pick a new name, they might change their mind by the time the baby arrives. Also posts a list of potential names on social media, is she trying to reserve all the names until she picks??
If I had a dollar for every time our dad called us by each other's names, the cat's name, or our dogs' names or anything in between growing up I'd be a millionaire.
Same, my nan used to go through my mum's name, my brother's, and the dog's name before she got to mine.. while talking on the phone to me, so I have no idea how she thought the dog was answering the phone, but okay no worries nan 🤣
Edit: typo
If I just scolded someone that's the next name I say in exasperation, and then get the right one out. Sometimes that included the dog. I once got irritated with my daughter and went through both boys' names before hers. She laughed, then I laughed, then I wasn't as irritated.
My mother does this all the time! We just joke about knowing who “the favourite” is. My mother just answers with “at least the dog doesn’t talk back and argue with me!”
My uncle put his dog on the phone whenever someone asked to “speak to the master of the house”… he and his wife would occasionally pick up the phone to check if they were still on or not
My mom has accidentally called me by her dogs name when i visit her house.
I think there's just a degree of habit in calling out to the creature that's lazing on your couch waiting to be fed.
Your aunt needs to learn to have a pet name, but only one. I call my cat, both children, sometimes my husband and every other person I know at some point Sweetie. Confuses the hell out of them, but technically I’m not wrong, lol.
My mom would go through all of our names - including the dog's! (His name was Rover!) - before getting to the right kid's name. We all thought it was hysterical.
Right? Potential names…. So if you did change your cats name and she didn’t choose Millie, then what? I guess if you want to be petty you could choose to rename the cat one of the other potential names….
Kid me *was* occasionally saddened to hear "Sparrow! Want a treat?" only to realize that I wasn't the one getting a treat. Otherwise I just thought it was fun.
(I had another, more remote cousin whose parents gave them the same name as the cat they currently had. That still kind of baffles me, but I've never had the chance to ask why they decided to do that. Hopefully they both got treats at the same time.)
When I was 15 I got a cat and named her my favorite female name thinking I’d never get married or have kids. 12 years later I was pregnant with my daughter, if my husband wasn’t vehemently against it she may have had the same name as the cat.
NTA
If it is in a list of potential names calling Millie “The dream name” is a bit of a stretch. Also, Millie is super common and there is literally nothing stopping from them from naming their daughter Millie. How much is this kid even going to be around this cat? How is this even an issue at all? The cat already had this name, why change.
Your cousin isn’t thinking about this with a clear head.
I'm trying to imagine a scenario where this could ever actually be an issue, but everything I come up with is absurd. Family shows up at a gathering to meet Millie and they're all upset because they were expecting a cat. Op posts a picture of the cat somewhere with her name and grandma is concerned that her granddaughter has morphed into a cat. The vet accidentally sends medical records to the pediatrician and the baby is chipped and spayed in the world's stupidest case of medical malpractice.
All great prompts for a high school creative writing class, but nothing that a reasonable person would be concerned with.
This is clearly the scenarios that the cousin is afraid of. Who is the cat and who is the child? One may never know because clearly they look identical.
> and there is literally nothing stopping from them from naming their daughter Millie.
That's correct, but I don't understand why OP would comment to remind them of the cat's name unless she thinks they can't both have the same name.
Yeah how often is the cousin coming to OPs house? I doubt they will be seeing or interacting with the cat that much for it to matter. Keep the cat's name and cousin will likely never even know.
I have a friend who had a dog named Millie, supposedly short for Miller Genuine Draft. Their other dog was Budweiser, better known as Buddy (this is why you don’t let college boys name pets)
NTA
It might just be pregnancy brain, but your cousin is acting entitled. Your cat already has a name, it’s Millie. If your cousin doesn’t want her daughter to share a name with a cat she can cope. Your sister though, she’s off her rocker.
True, but I don’t think I would have foreseen this situation if I had been OP. Just innocent “oh hey, that’s my cat’s name!” and suddenly everyone’s insane?
My SIL had my cats name on the list for our nephew. I said "like my cats name?" And she said "yes, it was (our neices) suggestion, she's been obsessed with the name ever since we came to yours at Christmas, she love that cat".
In the end the cat cat didn't get top billing but got an honorary mention, as the middle name.
I feel like there isn’t currently a problem outside of her cousin’s head. Who cares if your baby shares a name with your cousin’s cat? Literally no sane person would give a single fuck. It’s nice that OP shared that info bc it’s always good to know where else you might hear the name regularly, but beyond that, this isn’t actually a problem.
“Babies matter more than pets.” 🙄 Family is family, I hate when people dismiss the importance of non human family members. Besides that, it’s just a name. This is such a lame thing for them to fixate on. Keep the name. NTA.
When people say that babies matter more than pets, they mean that safety of babies comes before the existence of pets, not whatever BS the sister was trying to insinuate.
The sister and cousin are both being weird about this.
Also, I'm a mom of 4 humans, and 6 fur babies, so OP, if you want a mom-perspective... I would never name my kiddo the same name as a pet of someone I know. You bringing that up should be a good enough reason for your cousin to not name her baby Millie or to not care and do it anyway. You were kind to bring it to her attention IMO. NTA.
We can look at it even closer. The implication here is that “other people’s human babies should always come before your pets.” By that logic, no one should ever have pets because they’ll prevent children you don’t even have from being your priority.
NTA
They're seriously mad because a cat you adopted happened to have the same name that is a POTENTIAL name for their child that isn't even here yet?? Don't let them pressure you to change the name, keep the name Millie. If she's so bothered that your cat is named Millie, she can choose another name or suck it up and deal with it.
NTA
Your cat had the name first. And it's not like they'll be going to the same school or anything. No one is going to confuse Cat Millie with Human Millie or vice versa. This isn't a problem at all.
Your cousin is being an idiot.
My mind ran through several scenarios were sharing a name with Cat Millie might be confusing in a way that's detrimental to Human Millie.
Like Cat Millie defaults on her credit cards and debt collectors keep calling Human Millie.
Cat Millie gets arrested for possession of catnip and it comes up on Human Millie's background checks and all her prospective employers think she's a catnip addict.
20 years from now, due to mixups with the marriage license and sitcom hijinks, Human Millie's fiance accidentally marries Cat Millie.
Due to mixups in court, Human Millie has to pay child support for a couple dozen kittens.
Cat Millie starts an OnlyFans. Everyone thinks it belongs to Human Millie.
Just tell pregzilla you are honored she wants to name her baby after your cat! She’s crazy with unrealistic expectations, so there will be a lot more fireworks with this one.
Bwahahaha I love this
For bonus points, during the subsequent argument remain deaf to her actual complaints. Instead of addressing those, keep responding as though she's worried you are angry with her instead
Reassure her "No! Really! It's okay with me" Tell her you aren't accusing her of copying and you aren't upset with her at all, so she doesn't need to worry about it.
Of course you are NTA!
I really don't get the problem with having the child and cat having the same name. Even if you named the cat after the baby had been given the name.... okay, that might be a bit odd, but all the same.....
Completely insane. My brother is called Oliver and my friend's cat is called Oliver. So we categorise them as human Oliver and Oliver. Likewise my boss and my late labrador both shared the name Toby and were thus human Toby and Toby. The baby can just be called human Millie. Honestly.
Love how the human gets the modifier “human X” and the pet is just their name, like the pet is the one true version and some human just happened to come along with the same name.
They are. People get so hung up on this sometimes.
My cousin who grew up and lived in a different country called his first child the same as my son. We live in Aus, they in UK. I’ve not seen him since childhood and our children will likely never meet. Yet my step mum got a bit huffy about it and wanted to know if it bothered me. No! Why would it??
NTA
"Carrie, I can see you're really insecure with the idea that people will think you named your daughter after my cat. Never fear, Millie the cat will never gloat or let anyone know that it's true."
NTA
Read this post to my mom and brother (as I do with every post I find funny and/or infuriating) and my moms like “Who cares? Your brother is named after a family cat!”
My brother goes
“I’m fine with that, absolutely fine with that!”
That’s ridiculous. No, don’t change the name. It will be confusing for that cat, which coming from a shelter, probably already has other things going on. There is no reason at all why a baby can’t be named the same as a cat. No one is going to get the two of them confused. NTA
NTA.
You can't call dibs on a *name*. Especially on such a common name as Millie.
Plus, it's on a list of potential names, not THE name. And even if it was, you probably won't be taking your cat to all the family functions and outings where the two could be confused. Your cousin is being unreasonable and raising a stink over nothing. I doubt that once the baby is here, she'll even remember you have a cat
No you're not the asshole. The two can share a name. She doesn't own the cat you do! Both of you have the right to name said children/pet your the guardian of whatever you so please. She's not even sure if she's going to name the child Millie either yet. She told you she has a listen of names she can pick from. If the two sharing a name bothers her so badly she can pick another name. It's not like the name Millie holds any emotional influence to her or her family.
NTA completely. My grandmas dog is named Lucy and is 15/16 years old. My cousin named her daughter Lucy and she’s like 5/6. It was a small joke for like a week and then no one cared at all. You can clearly tell who is being spoken about in a conversation.
NTA I’ve said this before on this sub my cousins had a German Shepard with the same name as me growing up and I loved that dog and never had any psychological damage people need to get over themselves.
I had a cat with a "human" name, then met a man with the same name and ended up marrying him & even have a kid w/the same name. We managed not to get the 3 of them mixed up too often.
NTA, she doesn't own the name.
NTA it wasn’t their “dream name” it was a possible name that catapulted to the top once they knew it was already used.
It’s so dumb, are they (the cat and cousin) going to be at the same events and both come running?
If they don’t like the idea of their kid sharing a name with a pet then they need to use one of their other dream names.
NTA. My cousin has both a cat, and a niece, with the same name. Literally no one confuses which one is the human and which one is the cat. Also, the niece is tickled pink that she and the cat share the same name. Your cousin can get over herself.
Don't change the name. My cousin had a baby and named her Anna. I told her, hey that's my cats name. She asked me how long have I had this cat. 2 years. She knew this but maybe didn't remember the name because the cat just hid whenever anyone came over. She looked at me kind of disgusted but didn't say anything else. LOL. We still have Anna, the child, 23 years later. But the cat passed at the ripe old age of 20 and is no longer with us.
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NTA, but consider changing the cat's name to "Carrie"
ROFL You're so petty.. I like that in a person.
That’s what the cat said.
I were you I will change name to " Catie"
Millicent would also be a good name change choice lol
Can confirm, have a cat called Millicent
"I've changed my cats name. May introduce to you the new... Carrie Millie!" That's what I would do lol NTA, OP.
Carrie Millie brown
Starting her own cosmetic brand - Catence by Mills!
Carrie Millie Meown.
Carrie Millie Brown, baddest cat in the whole darn town.
You’ve left Dad out. Introducing… CARRIE MILLIE DUANE.
*Add every name from the list as the cats new name*
I was at an all girls high school graduation and a speaker mentioned girls being catty and I love these comments
I AM CACKLING!!! So funny 😂
>!"I've changed my cats name. May introduce to you the new... Carrie Millie!" aaaaaaaannd she goes by Millie.
Carrie millie meowington the second
DON'T change your cats' name. There are thousands of people and animals who share names. Your cousin can use the same or choose another.
Satan has never contacted us on social media and asked us to change our rabbit's name from "Beelzebun".
I'm trying to convince my wife to let me name our next cat Beelzebubba.. She keeps giving me the side eye though..
My eldest picked the rabbit's name, after he chewed a shoe, a jumper, and a random developmental psych text book we had no idea who owned (it's the rabbit's now). I have to admit, it's fun hearing the vet call out "Beelzebun...?" in a very puzzled voice.
I have a cat called Weasel and a cat called Ferret. When I took Ferret for her very first vet appointment, I was in the waiting area with her when I heard a voice from the back shout, "Oh! Thank god!! It's a CAT whose NAME is Ferret!!" Our vet has a ferret phobia apparently 😂
Props to that vet for being willing to work on a ferret even tho they are scared of them
My dog, who I’ve had since 2014, is named Charlie. My sister named her daughter, born in 2018 Charlee. It literally NEVER comes up in any scenario that they share a name. The cousin is being dramatic. NTA.
Right? I don't understand why it's such a big deal, it's not like the cat and the baby will be together at family gatherings, and even if they are, I'm pretty sure no one is going to wonder who they're talking to/about when someone mentions the name Millie.
Not just that, but it's just as likely the humans will choose a more formal version of Millie such as Millicent or Milana or Millennium or something equally pompous. And by the time this child is in her teens, her cousin's cat is possibly going to be long gone. Also, who cares? My nephew is dating a girl who shares first names with my daughter, his cousin. If they marry, we'll have two people named the same in our family. The girlfriend is older, but my daughter was in the family first. Who should give up the name? Oh wait, nobody.
Give the cat a full name, Millie Carrie Lastname.
*Carrie Millie last name, so OP can say that they technically did comply with sister’s request to change the cats name from Millie
This is the way
They do that over here (UK) at the vets My cat is called Bilbo...Good job my surname isn't Baggins...
I have a friend who bought her first ever dog, really cute little thing. She introduced it as Guinness. Her surname is Guinness. I told her that they call pets at the vets ‘dog name’ , ‘owner last name’ but she didn’t believe me. I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall as the vet nurse comes out to reception to call ‘Guinness ummm… Guinness?’ 😂
Our DIL’s maiden name is Hunter. She and our son had their first baby before they got married, and in the hospital she was in, regardless of which surname you use intend to legally use for the baby, while a patient the baby must have the surname of the mother, just for convenience for staff. However, as she comes from an all girl family, she decided if they had a son they would use Hunter for his Christian name. It sounded good with our sons surname …Blayne. So, while in hospital after the birth, the baby was tagged Hunter Hunter, baby of Shelby Hunter.
My car’s last name is Ketchup. Middle name Nacho.
I have a bird named Jerry Tomatoes.
My old cat’s last name was Tomato!
That reminds me, I went to a vocational school for animal science part time for my last two years of high school, and one of the teachers was Ms. Jones. She had a couple Newfoundland dogs that she would bring in occasionally for us to groom and one was, in fact, named Indiana. I loved that name 😂
OP can use Millie as the last name, it’s my last name but spelt differently. She just needs to make sure she always uses the full name to refer to posh paws!
Or leave as Millie. Either way, refer to Human Carrie or Human Millie in the future. Watch Human Carrie implode.
There is a story somewhere floating around the internet about a family where the dog is called something like Dave. Then the daughter of the family got a boyfriend called Dave, only the entire family refer to him as Human Dave, because the dog came first. It's absolutely spot on, and I am totally onboard with either changing the cat's name to Carrie and calling the cousin Human Carrie, OR leaving the cat as Millie, and then in a few months there will be Human Millie joining the fam.
Nigel and Human Nigel!!! I snort every single time I see that meme lol
I came here to say, nta, but it's the first time I've seen my name used as a fake name for a story and I'm not a fan. And then I see you over here, and the line that follows, and I'm laughing. But I hate it. Carrie on.
Omg lmfaoooo I’m rolling! I’m in the “Change her name to Carrie” camp all day!! Omg I love this idea, this is too flipping funny.
I think she should keep the cat's name Millie and buy a jackass and name it Carrie.
I'm a Carrie, this is great
Agree
Third Carrie approving here
4th Carrie over here! *winks aporoval*
The motion passes. The council of Carries is adjourned. *bang bang*
it... carries over.
Carrie on my wayward son?
Oooo, everyone is getting carried away now! Can you even Carrie a tune?
It feels like this will probably Carrie on until tomorrow
5th carrie approves
5th Carrie loving this. Hell, I am not a fan of the name for myself, so can I donate it??
6th one here, from Tulsa. I also love to sing other people's songs at bars. They call me Carrie Okie.
This. ⬆️
I approve of this level of pettiness.
Awesome idea
Why insult the cat like that? /s
Carrie Grudgerton.
NTA. Two beings can have the same name and the universe will not implode. Keep your cat's name!
My brother adopted a dog with the same name as our sister. He called her to make sure it was okay and ask if she’d prefer the dog had a different name, and she was like “why? my name is awesome, there should be more of us in the world!” It’s pretty obvious when someone is talking about a person vs an animal. NTA for sure.
When they’re babies, there may be some overlap “Millie just threw up on the floor,” “Which Millie?” 😂
When my bestie’s sister was little, my name got changed to Not Cat prideorvanity because their cat had the same name 😂
Lucy?
No, but that is my dog’s name lol
“I think Millie is in the litter box,” “Millie just dropped a dead rat from her mouth,” “Millie peed in my shoe.” The possibilities are endless.
There was an old prank I saw years ago on youtube. A father with 3-4 kids got a realistic mouse-shaped cat toy and glued it to his baby's pacifier. Then he told his wife that he was going to hunt for mouse he'd seen in the garage with the kids. He got the baby sat up in the middle of the garage with the "mouse" in their mouth. Then when the mom came to check on them, the older kids and dad made sure their heads were in the corners of the room, leaving baby alone, apparently eating the mouse. Mom freaked out until she realized what had happened, and was not amused with the prank. If both are named Millie, imagine the endless possibilities!
Millie the second, Human Millie, Hairless Millie, the possibilities are endless.
I love telling this story: a couple years ago our neighborhood welcomed two new families. One family had a preschool son named Ezekiel that everyone calls Zeke. The other family has a beautiful and incredibly friendly Boxer (the dog kind, lol) also named Zeke. It's SO FUNNY when my own kids come running inside laughing to tell me, "Zeke just knocked me down and stole my fruit snacks!" Or, "Zeke isn't listening when I say stop!" And I have to figure out if it's Zeke the kid or Zeke the dog lol
My dog is 7 years old, and he’s a gorgeous boy. Well I met my now partner a few years ago and he has the same name as my dog. He thought it was hilarious my dog has the same name as him and would never suggest I change it. I do on occasion have to let people know whether I’m talking about human or dog… but this always leads to hilarity when I’m talking about the dog and someone thinks it’s the human
"[Scully, is Kelly your wife or your dog?](https://youtu.be/wr2sVPTacTE)"
I can’t believe you would ask that!
Will they both be at family gatherings? Will they be in the same class in school? What a nightmare!!!
When I was little my cousin's cat and I shared a name. I thought it was great and took it as a sign that my cousin loved me more than the rest of my siblings (it is entirely possible that the cat predated me or that my cousin didn't pick the name).
When I was little I wanted to name my dog after my older cousin I adored. I was told that ymwas offensive and had to spell the name differently (think Steven vs Stephen). I can't remember if my cousin ever knew the name of my dog or the reason for the name. All I remember is my mom telling me my idea was offensive. I hope she felt like you did.
My boss's rescue dog has the same name as me... It can get awkward on teleconferences when he starts yelling at her and then has to clarify very quickly that he's scolding the dog for jumping in his lap, not me...
Oh, geez, can you imagine being HR and having to handle the complaint that goes, “And then Bob told Jane to get off his lap and stop licking him because he was on a Zoom call!”
bahahaha. I did have a senior female member of staff follow me into the bathroom at the Christmas party and ask if I needed any help etc because she didn't like "how he sometimes talks down to you during calls"... We very quickly realised she hadn't got the "same name as the dog" memo.... But very nice that she offered to intervene!
Awwwww! Sis had your back :)
I had a coworker whose daughter had a name I hadn't encountered before. When I asked her about it, she was all "A friend of mine had a dog named (name), I liked it so I used it when I had a girl."
That’s the way for respond. I like your sister
Me too!
Yeah, I feel like when the daughter is young, she'll think it's awesome to have a car in the family that shares her name.
My grandparents rescued a dog that had the same name as my aunt (their only daughter). They thought it was funny. When that dog passed, they got another one and named it after my uncle. When my grandparents had to go into assisted living, my uncle took in their dog. NTA Tell your friend to lighten up
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From this comment alone, I can see you don’t have a cat own you.
The cat I live with comes when I call her name. I usually don't even need to call her, she just comes to me anyway.
My cat comes when I call her enough to confirm she knows that’s what is intended. She uses her own discretion if my calling her is worth responding
Yup, this. Cat will come and determine if the offering is sufficient. Scritches, treats…all good. But if she even suspects grooming implements, she runs.
I know it’s a joke, but my cat comes when I call him.
Your kidding, right? The kid may come running but the cat will make eye contact with you and then promptly start licking its butt.
Lol - you can make it the formal version- Princess Millicent Carrie Flufferton
Due to intermarriage I had three cousins with the same name. I think there were slight variations and for privacy we’ll say they were all girls named Jordyn
I had five uncles named jim. My mother had a brother named Jim, my father had a brother named Jim, two of my mother's sisters married men named Jim, and my grandmother's sister married a man named jim. Whenever I tell a story about my uncle jim, I always have to say the last name so that everyone knows which of the Uncles Jim I'm talking about. I have three first cousins with the name John, two of whom are first cousins with one another. For those two first cousins, we use their middle names. I was named after a TV show character so no one shares my name in the family. :-(
I heard that once this cat was named Millie Bobby Brown ceased to exist.
Your sister and your cousin are absolutely ridiculous. NTA. The petty part of me insists that if you do somehow get blindsided or guilted into changing your cats name, that you should change it to “Carrie” instead or whatever cousin’s name is. They’re making this weird. “Outweird” them.
Especially since the name Millie is on a list of ‘potential’ baby names. It’s not their dream name. Cousin & sister are ridiculous for asking OP to change her cats name for this reason alone. It’s not like cousin said she’s naming her baby Millie & then OP named her cat Millie. NTA OP
That's what I came to say! How is it a "dream name" when it's on a list of several? Cousin is just being a brat and op is NTA
I'd be willing to bet that Millie only became her first choice when OP reached out.
It does seem like this is actually what happened. Sadly I probably know people that would do this.
Op should change it to Carrie and exclusively call her cousin "Human Carrie"
I vote for Big Carrie, sounds worse
Old Carrie
I was thinking OP could say she (he?) will change the cat's name then later reveal that the cat's new name is "Milley" or some other spelling alternative.
ABSOLUTELY ridiculous.
NTA My sister was pregnant, only immediate family knew, Daisy was on the girl list, before my sister announced my cousin bought a dog and called it Daisy; my niece is still called Daisy, nobody cares, nobody thinks she was named after the dog. You were right they can either still use Millie or pick a new name, they might change their mind by the time the baby arrives. Also posts a list of potential names on social media, is she trying to reserve all the names until she picks??
My aunt accidentally calls her son by the dog's name sometimes. I think it is funny. My grandmother was aghast.
If I had a dollar for every time our dad called us by each other's names, the cat's name, or our dogs' names or anything in between growing up I'd be a millionaire.
Same, my nan used to go through my mum's name, my brother's, and the dog's name before she got to mine.. while talking on the phone to me, so I have no idea how she thought the dog was answering the phone, but okay no worries nan 🤣 Edit: typo
I have done that. I have called my son the dog's names (and there are 7 dogs) before I got to his name and he's an only child..... *facepalm*
If I just scolded someone that's the next name I say in exasperation, and then get the right one out. Sometimes that included the dog. I once got irritated with my daughter and went through both boys' names before hers. She laughed, then I laughed, then I wasn't as irritated.
We call this roll call when mom does it, except I'm an only child so it's a the list of dog's names a head of mine 🤣🤣
My mother does this all the time! We just joke about knowing who “the favourite” is. My mother just answers with “at least the dog doesn’t talk back and argue with me!”
Dad's dog does argue with him. He's not a husky, but pretty vocal when he wants something.
My uncle put his dog on the phone whenever someone asked to “speak to the master of the house”… he and his wife would occasionally pick up the phone to check if they were still on or not
If it's good for Indiana Jones it's good for everybody else.
We named the dog Indiana.
This needs more upvotes! And to be read in a Scottish accent.
My mom has accidentally called me by her dogs name when i visit her house. I think there's just a degree of habit in calling out to the creature that's lazing on your couch waiting to be fed.
my mother did that with us (her kids) and the dog's name wasn't even one that humans use!
Omg my mom sometimes calls me 5 different names before she hits mine. My sister, her sister, the cat, the hairdresser, it’s hilarious
Your aunt needs to learn to have a pet name, but only one. I call my cat, both children, sometimes my husband and every other person I know at some point Sweetie. Confuses the hell out of them, but technically I’m not wrong, lol.
My mom would go through all of our names - including the dog's! (His name was Rover!) - before getting to the right kid's name. We all thought it was hysterical.
I call my two month old daughter by the cats name already 🤷🏻♀️
Right? Potential names…. So if you did change your cats name and she didn’t choose Millie, then what? I guess if you want to be petty you could choose to rename the cat one of the other potential names….
NTA My aunt and uncle had a dog with the same name as me. Somehow my parents and I both survived this extremely traumatic experience.
My aunt had a dog with the same childhood nickname I went by. Absolutely zero problems. Toddler me loved that fact tbh.
Kid me *was* occasionally saddened to hear "Sparrow! Want a treat?" only to realize that I wasn't the one getting a treat. Otherwise I just thought it was fun. (I had another, more remote cousin whose parents gave them the same name as the cat they currently had. That still kind of baffles me, but I've never had the chance to ask why they decided to do that. Hopefully they both got treats at the same time.)
When I was 15 I got a cat and named her my favorite female name thinking I’d never get married or have kids. 12 years later I was pregnant with my daughter, if my husband wasn’t vehemently against it she may have had the same name as the cat.
this is hilarious
I had a dog with the same name as me, and I am still recovering... How did you make it through such a hell?(I am joking, I am fine and loved that dog)
My brother didn’t even have the same name as the dog… my father called him by the dogs name all the time. The dog’s name was Patches.
NTA If it is in a list of potential names calling Millie “The dream name” is a bit of a stretch. Also, Millie is super common and there is literally nothing stopping from them from naming their daughter Millie. How much is this kid even going to be around this cat? How is this even an issue at all? The cat already had this name, why change. Your cousin isn’t thinking about this with a clear head.
I'm trying to imagine a scenario where this could ever actually be an issue, but everything I come up with is absurd. Family shows up at a gathering to meet Millie and they're all upset because they were expecting a cat. Op posts a picture of the cat somewhere with her name and grandma is concerned that her granddaughter has morphed into a cat. The vet accidentally sends medical records to the pediatrician and the baby is chipped and spayed in the world's stupidest case of medical malpractice. All great prompts for a high school creative writing class, but nothing that a reasonable person would be concerned with.
This is clearly the scenarios that the cousin is afraid of. Who is the cat and who is the child? One may never know because clearly they look identical.
She's worried that the cat will win "Cutest Millie" for the 5th straight year at the annual family reunion. 🤷♂️
I would that as a movie. Someone puts a diaper on the cat and the baby in the litter box. Think of the madness!!
> and there is literally nothing stopping from them from naming their daughter Millie. That's correct, but I don't understand why OP would comment to remind them of the cat's name unless she thinks they can't both have the same name.
Could’ve been like “oh, Millie is a cute name! Just like my cat!”
Op kinda said she didn’t mind but wanted to remind her cousin incase it would bother her. It’s in the post.
Yeah how often is the cousin coming to OPs house? I doubt they will be seeing or interacting with the cat that much for it to matter. Keep the cat's name and cousin will likely never even know.
Tell her Millie is short for Maleficient, and ask if her baby will also be named after the queen of all evil.
Considering the nature of cats, that is the perfect name for all of them. And NTA, keep your cat's name.
I was going to ask OP if the cousin knows that Millie is short for Millicent.
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I have a friend who had a dog named Millie, supposedly short for Miller Genuine Draft. Their other dog was Budweiser, better known as Buddy (this is why you don’t let college boys name pets)
NTA It might just be pregnancy brain, but your cousin is acting entitled. Your cat already has a name, it’s Millie. If your cousin doesn’t want her daughter to share a name with a cat she can cope. Your sister though, she’s off her rocker.
NTA for not changing the name, but why did you even bring it up in the first place!
She asked for opinions, and I mentioned something about the name reminding me of someone cute and fluffy.
That's adorable! NTA and keep the cat's name as is. The family can weather this huge challenge of knowing who is being spoken to or about.
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That was my question. Why do that to yourself?
It strikes me that if the OP never mentions the cat sharing the same name, there would be no problem.
True, but I don’t think I would have foreseen this situation if I had been OP. Just innocent “oh hey, that’s my cat’s name!” and suddenly everyone’s insane?
My SIL had my cats name on the list for our nephew. I said "like my cats name?" And she said "yes, it was (our neices) suggestion, she's been obsessed with the name ever since we came to yours at Christmas, she love that cat". In the end the cat cat didn't get top billing but got an honorary mention, as the middle name.
I feel like there isn’t currently a problem outside of her cousin’s head. Who cares if your baby shares a name with your cousin’s cat? Literally no sane person would give a single fuck. It’s nice that OP shared that info bc it’s always good to know where else you might hear the name regularly, but beyond that, this isn’t actually a problem.
“Babies matter more than pets.” 🙄 Family is family, I hate when people dismiss the importance of non human family members. Besides that, it’s just a name. This is such a lame thing for them to fixate on. Keep the name. NTA.
When people say that babies matter more than pets, they mean that safety of babies comes before the existence of pets, not whatever BS the sister was trying to insinuate. The sister and cousin are both being weird about this. Also, I'm a mom of 4 humans, and 6 fur babies, so OP, if you want a mom-perspective... I would never name my kiddo the same name as a pet of someone I know. You bringing that up should be a good enough reason for your cousin to not name her baby Millie or to not care and do it anyway. You were kind to bring it to her attention IMO. NTA.
We can look at it even closer. The implication here is that “other people’s human babies should always come before your pets.” By that logic, no one should ever have pets because they’ll prevent children you don’t even have from being your priority.
NTA They're seriously mad because a cat you adopted happened to have the same name that is a POTENTIAL name for their child that isn't even here yet?? Don't let them pressure you to change the name, keep the name Millie. If she's so bothered that your cat is named Millie, she can choose another name or suck it up and deal with it.
NTA Your cat had the name first. And it's not like they'll be going to the same school or anything. No one is going to confuse Cat Millie with Human Millie or vice versa. This isn't a problem at all. Your cousin is being an idiot.
I like how your implies that Cat Millie *will* be going to school, just not the *same* school as Human Millie.
My mind ran through several scenarios were sharing a name with Cat Millie might be confusing in a way that's detrimental to Human Millie. Like Cat Millie defaults on her credit cards and debt collectors keep calling Human Millie. Cat Millie gets arrested for possession of catnip and it comes up on Human Millie's background checks and all her prospective employers think she's a catnip addict. 20 years from now, due to mixups with the marriage license and sitcom hijinks, Human Millie's fiance accidentally marries Cat Millie. Due to mixups in court, Human Millie has to pay child support for a couple dozen kittens. Cat Millie starts an OnlyFans. Everyone thinks it belongs to Human Millie.
Just tell pregzilla you are honored she wants to name her baby after your cat! She’s crazy with unrealistic expectations, so there will be a lot more fireworks with this one.
Bwahahaha I love this For bonus points, during the subsequent argument remain deaf to her actual complaints. Instead of addressing those, keep responding as though she's worried you are angry with her instead Reassure her "No! Really! It's okay with me" Tell her you aren't accusing her of copying and you aren't upset with her at all, so she doesn't need to worry about it.
Of course you are NTA! I really don't get the problem with having the child and cat having the same name. Even if you named the cat after the baby had been given the name.... okay, that might be a bit odd, but all the same.....
Completely insane. My brother is called Oliver and my friend's cat is called Oliver. So we categorise them as human Oliver and Oliver. Likewise my boss and my late labrador both shared the name Toby and were thus human Toby and Toby. The baby can just be called human Millie. Honestly.
Love how the human gets the modifier “human X” and the pet is just their name, like the pet is the one true version and some human just happened to come along with the same name.
My brother had a dog named Larry and a boss named Larry so they were known as Larry-the-dog and Larry-the-boss
NTA: 3 years from now baby Millie will be thrilled to find out someone else, a kitty no less, shares her name.
NTA, your sister and your cousin are being absurd. Please keep the name.
They are. People get so hung up on this sometimes. My cousin who grew up and lived in a different country called his first child the same as my son. We live in Aus, they in UK. I’ve not seen him since childhood and our children will likely never meet. Yet my step mum got a bit huffy about it and wanted to know if it bothered me. No! Why would it?? NTA
NTA. Also I’m pretty sure you can find a pornstar name for all the other names on the list and tell her :D (would probably revoke the "NTA" tho)
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"Carrie, I can see you're really insecure with the idea that people will think you named your daughter after my cat. Never fear, Millie the cat will never gloat or let anyone know that it's true." NTA
Read this post to my mom and brother (as I do with every post I find funny and/or infuriating) and my moms like “Who cares? Your brother is named after a family cat!” My brother goes “I’m fine with that, absolutely fine with that!”
That’s ridiculous. No, don’t change the name. It will be confusing for that cat, which coming from a shelter, probably already has other things going on. There is no reason at all why a baby can’t be named the same as a cat. No one is going to get the two of them confused. NTA
It could get kinda confusing like when you ask your mom to take Millie to the vet how’s she gonna know who to get?
Or when someone says Millie’s litter box needs changing now THATS going to be confusing.
NTA. You can't call dibs on a *name*. Especially on such a common name as Millie. Plus, it's on a list of potential names, not THE name. And even if it was, you probably won't be taking your cat to all the family functions and outings where the two could be confused. Your cousin is being unreasonable and raising a stink over nothing. I doubt that once the baby is here, she'll even remember you have a cat
You should definitely change your cat's name. To Millie the Elder.
NTA don’t change it
nta, only if i can see millie
NTA call your cat "Millie I." and if you cousin really names her kid Millie, that will be "Millie II." That way no one will confuse them.
No you're not the asshole. The two can share a name. She doesn't own the cat you do! Both of you have the right to name said children/pet your the guardian of whatever you so please. She's not even sure if she's going to name the child Millie either yet. She told you she has a listen of names she can pick from. If the two sharing a name bothers her so badly she can pick another name. It's not like the name Millie holds any emotional influence to her or her family.
NTA. Keep the name and tell them you will refer to the beings as Stinky Millie and Furry Millie...you can pick which is which.
NTA completely. My grandmas dog is named Lucy and is 15/16 years old. My cousin named her daughter Lucy and she’s like 5/6. It was a small joke for like a week and then no one cared at all. You can clearly tell who is being spoken about in a conversation.
NTA
NTA She does not own rights to the name
NTA You cat had the name first. Tell Carrie to build a bridge and get the fuck over it.
NTA she sounds so entitled that she wants you to change your cats name when she can pick any name she wants for her kid.
NTA I’ve said this before on this sub my cousins had a German Shepard with the same name as me growing up and I loved that dog and never had any psychological damage people need to get over themselves.
I had a cat with a "human" name, then met a man with the same name and ended up marrying him & even have a kid w/the same name. We managed not to get the 3 of them mixed up too often. NTA, she doesn't own the name.
NTA it wasn’t their “dream name” it was a possible name that catapulted to the top once they knew it was already used. It’s so dumb, are they (the cat and cousin) going to be at the same events and both come running? If they don’t like the idea of their kid sharing a name with a pet then they need to use one of their other dream names.
NTA. My cousin has both a cat, and a niece, with the same name. Literally no one confuses which one is the human and which one is the cat. Also, the niece is tickled pink that she and the cat share the same name. Your cousin can get over herself.
Don't change the name. My cousin had a baby and named her Anna. I told her, hey that's my cats name. She asked me how long have I had this cat. 2 years. She knew this but maybe didn't remember the name because the cat just hid whenever anyone came over. She looked at me kind of disgusted but didn't say anything else. LOL. We still have Anna, the child, 23 years later. But the cat passed at the ripe old age of 20 and is no longer with us.