Young dad breaks family tradition by not naming newborn son 'October'; parents unleash their wrath

Family traditions are unique to everyone. While some households have annual dinners, festive rituals, or other practices, a man shared his family's long-standing tradition of naming children after the months of the year. However, when he became a father to a son, he refused to participate in the tradition and chose a different name, which offended his parents. 

The 25-year-old father, u/User593768, posted his plight on Reddit: "My wife gave birth to our son two weeks ago. My family has had the tradition of naming the child [after the] months of the year for five generations on my mum's side. My name is December. My brothers are called August and July, while my sisters are named April, June, and May." However, he and his wife didn't follow in the family's footsteps and gave their child a "normal" name: "Tobias." 

But they didn't reveal the name because they knew about their family's fixation on the tradition. "We kept the name a secret until after he was born and we had signed the birth certificate, so [that] it couldn't be changed." However, when they finally told their parents, they unleashed their wrath. "They were most certainly not happy," revealed the OP, noting that although his father has a normal name, "Alex," he liked the tradition.

In addition, his sister, "June," kept the tradition alive by naming her daughter "March." As a result, the parents expected him to follow suit. "My mum continually said that we should call the baby 'September' for a girl and 'October' for a boy throughout the pregnancy," he wrote. However, his brothers were on his side since they understood what it felt like to be continuously insulted by people. 

"My parents left after saying we were disrespecting my heritage by not following the tradition. I told them I wasn’t going to name my child a ridiculous name because some old, long-dead, crazy man decided months of the year would be good names. They stormed out and haven't spoken to me since." His sisters suggested he shouldn't have gone against the elders to keep the peace and accused his wife of "brainwashing" him. 

The Reddit community jumped in to give their opinions in the comment section. u/ReviewOk929 condemned such traditions, "Traditions like this deserve to be broken. It's not your responsibility to keep the peace. It's theirs to respect your decision and try to move past it." u/beastmanmode45 echoed, "It is your child. Family traditions are not always a good thing." 

u/buttercupgrump said it is the parent's right to choose the name for their baby. "The people who created and are raising the child get to choose the name [and] the people whining about tradition and disrespect can go kick rocks." u/Zestyclose_Gur_8889 commented, "Giving your son some terrible name just to make your parents happy would be a disservice to your son. Your parents will either get over it or not, but your son will be eternally grateful." 

Baby naming is considered one of the most crucial decisions within a family, and a father on TikTok shared a hilarious reason for calling his daughter by his siblings' names. He said, "I go... I go by my memory. You're fading away," referring to calling his daughters "Haley," "Daisy," and "Denisse" whenever he is unable to recall her name. The daughter responded, "You're so mean," while the father laughed out loud.