Woman Seeks Advice After Husband Insists They Name Their Baby ‘Ted Bundy’ After His Late-Grandpa
It doesn't have the best connotations.
Wikimedia Commons / Halfpoint / Shutterstock Deciding what to name a baby is a very delicate process.
Everyone has names they prefer and think sound cool or cute, and they have to be conscious that they don’t give their child a name that is easily made fun of. It can even be tasteful to name them after someone else near and dear to the parents.
What isn’t tasteful is giving them virtually the same name as one of history’s most infamous serial killers.
A 35-year-old pregnant woman posted about this exact scenario happening to her on the famous subreddit r/AmItheA**hole.
Her husband wants to name their child 'Teddy Bounde.'
The woman says that she and her 37-year-old husband are expecting their first child soon, which excited them because they previously struggled with fertility issues and miscarriages. She says she is near the end of the second trimester, and the two are keeping the baby’s gender a mystery.
She adds that her husband lost his grandfather a week prior and that the two were very close to each other. He has suggested naming their child Theodore or Theodora after his late grandpa, with Teddy and Theo or Thea as nicknames.
She says that she likes the name, but their last name gives the name a hard no from her. Their last name is spelled Bounde but pronounced as bun-dee.
If they go with their husband’s idea, they are giving their child nearly the same name as serial killer Ted Bundy.
The woman protested her husband’s idea and pointed out the obvious reasons why they shouldn’t do it, but he only doubled down.
“I told him he needs to think about how we will be perceived, how our child will be treated, and the implications that that name inherently carries,” she wrote.
“I literally had to spell out why that would be a horrible idea, and he still thinks I just hate his grandpa.”
He was upset that she opposed the name and told both sides of the family about the situation.
The family is heavily split over the issue. His side of the family is in support of the idea to honor his late grandfather. Her side of the family supports her position because they don’t want the child to be seen as a social pariah.
“I mean, personally I don’t think anyone is just going to assume that we are honoring a passed loved one; they’re just going to think of Ted Bundy,” she wrote.
Unsurprisingly, Reddit commenters supported the woman and said she was not the a**hole (NTA).
Commenters easily picked up on the connection the name brings and told her to disregard anyone telling her the opposite.
“Literally ignore everybody encouraging you to name your kid Ted Bundy,” the top commenter wrote.
Some commenters shared similar experiences in their lives as a cautionary tale against the name.
“I have a friend who has a very similar name to a well-known serial killer,” another top commenter wrote. “He has to wind up basically apologizing for his name wherever he goes, even though he has absolutely no relation to the guy. It’s pretty sad.”
Some also suggested other ways they could honor the father’s late grandpa, most commonly by giving the child his middle name.
Hopefully, for the sake of everyone involved, especially the kid, they end up choosing a different, more fortunate name.
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Jonathan Alfano is a writer who focuses on news and entertainment topics. He majors in journalism at the University of Central Florida with a minor in sports business. Follow him on Twitter.