Bored Panda works better on our iPhone app
Continue in app Continue in browser

BoredPanda Add post form topAdd Post Search
Tooltip close

The Bored Panda iOS app is live! Fight boredom with iPhones and iPads here.

“It’s Going To Be So Confusing”: Person Calls Out New Mom For Giving Her Twin Babies Stupid Names
1.5K

“It’s Going To Be So Confusing”: Person Calls Out New Mom For Giving Her Twin Babies Stupid Names

Interview With Author
ADVERTISEMENT

Things can get very confusing when people in your family have the same names. For instance, my dad and I have the same name and things still get hilarious when we meet up. It’s a lot of fun, but it can make anyone outside the family feel a bit lost. So, naturally, quite a few internet users had some very strong opinions when they read a story about identical names on the AITA subreddit.

Reddit user u/Deadlybutterknife, from Australia, shared a story about how they voiced their opinion out loud that it was completely ‘idiotic’ for their coworkers to give their newborn twins names that are pronounced identically: Sean and Seen. What’s more, the two parents’ last name is also Sean, so they were having quite a lot of fun imagining how surprised people would be to meet their kids in the future.

However, the story took quite an unexpected turn: after the redditor’s rather candid outburst, the parents reacted in a very surprising way. Scroll down for the full story and share your thoughts with us in the comments.

The author of the story, redditor u/Deadlybutterknife, who works in the finance industry, told Bored Panda that they’ve worked with both of the coworkers for 12 years across three companies and multiple role changes. “We have a good rapport and a lot of trust between us. They are good-natured and funny people, you can tell them anything and as long as it’s honest they’d consider it,” they explained why they were able to be so candid about the whole naming situation. “A lot of people got hung up on me being mean about it, but the reality is, we have that kind of relationship.”

A redditor shared their honest opinion about their coworkers wanting to name their newborn twins identically

ADVERTISEMENT

Image credits: kckate16 (not the actual photo)

What’s more, the parents wanted their kids’ names to sound the same as their family name

ADVERTISEMENT

The parents acted somewhat surprisingly and actually changed their minds

ADVERTISEMENT

However, the author of the story got into some trouble with HR

I was curious as to how bad the fallout at work was following the redditor’s post on r/AskReddit. “No idea yet, I’m back at work on the 10th. But I’m very senior in strategy in my industry, my role is both so hard to recruit for and so niche that it’s very unlikely anything will happen to me aside from asking me to consider my co-workers’ feelings more,” u/Deadlybutterknife told Bored Panda.

The redditor also shared their opinion about finding the balance between names that are unique and traditional. “Freakonomics did two great sections on naming. It boiled down that the more unique and more ethnic-sounding the name, the more there was a correlation to reduced earning potential. So my opinion is that a name should be sensible enough that someone can ascertain your name from looking at it and it shouldn’t be anything so out there that you look at it and go ‘wtf?'”

ADVERTISEMENT

The redditor added that they have three kids themselves. “I’m not for traditional names, but they are readable,” they said.

The most shocking thing to me was that the parents actually took their coworker’s comments in stride. In fact, they changed their minds and they’re planning on giving Seen a different name. However, the other twin will end up being named as originally planned. First name: Sean. Family name: Sean. Then again, they heard the opinion of a trusted friend and colleagues, so they valued their thoughts.

The author of the story ended up getting reported to HR for their post on the AITA subreddit. Ironically, it wasn’t the parents who reported them, as they thought the entire comment about matching names being ‘idiotic’ was pretty hilarious.

However, on a more serious note (and something that a few redditors picked up on), parents have a very important responsibility when picking out names for their children. They have to think about how other people, especially other kids, will react at school when they hear their name. Incredibly original names can increase the risk that the kids will become targets for bullies. On the flip side, bullying is never okay, for any reason.

Lauren Seager-Smith, the CEO of Kidscape, a UK-based charity that aims to keep children safe from harm and abuse, told Bored Panda earlier that “bullying is never acceptable.”

Kids can get bullied for a variety of reasons, whether it’s having a ‘funny’ name, wearing glasses, their family situation, being overweight, etc. Lauren said that kids need a lot of support from their parents and social circle when somebody attacks the things that make up their identity. These attacks are very tough to bear.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Never underestimate the impact of bullying, understand what your child needs to feel safe and if the bullying is in school—make sure you let the school know the impact of the situation,” Lauren said.

“You may also want to seek out opportunities to build your child’s confidence and assertiveness skills so they can feel proud of who they are,” she suggested that parents can encourage their kids to become more emotionally resilient when dealing with bullying that shouldn’t ever happen at school or outside of it in the first place.

Here’s what some internet users thought about the idea of giving twins matching names

ADVERTISEMENT
Share on Facebook
You May Like
Popular on Bored Panda
Add your comment
Add photo comments
POST
veni_vidi_vicky avatar
Vicky Zar
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cool that the parents had a laugh at it and decided better in the end. Such a nice outcome in comparison to others. These parents clearly were just overwhelmed and had a brain fart moment. Acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them.

amethystfeb2828 avatar
Arctic Fox Lover
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, not exactly. They're still keeping Sean's name, and they're only changing Seen's.

Load More Replies...
zohanekouian avatar
znzn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think its a stupid and dangerous idea. The confusion for their parents or other people is going to be the least important thing. The most importantly aspect is about their sense of individuality. Name is an important aspect in personal identification. Imagine not only having someone beside you your whole life but also with a same name. Parents of twins have to practice to value eachkid as an individual but they are doing the exact opposite. I feel sorry for the kids :(

jaekrijnen avatar
Jaekry
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Has Sean Sean seen Seen Sean? No, Seen Sean is been seen with Shawn and Shaun.

hermionem avatar
Hermione
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Has Sean Sean seen Seen Sean by the seashore? Seen Sean saw Sean Sean by the the seashore.

Load More Replies...
giulia-arrigoni21 avatar
Emmydearest
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Italy there's a bunch of rules for naming your child: no names that refer to offensive or ridiculous things (like Satan), no geographic names (except for a few ones), no names of historical negative people (like Adolf Hitler), no same names of the parents (not even with "junior"), no same names of siblings, no literature, movies or cartoon names (like Macbeth, Dracula, Pikachu...), no names different from your gender (like a baby girl named Marco or a baby boy named Maria).

beth_landers avatar
Beth L
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I volunteered at a lot of covid vaccine clinics last year. You'd be surprised how often we got duplicate names registered on the same day - and we're not even talking John Smith level of common names. We kept their medical records straight by BIRTH DATE. Having two kids with the exact same name (because people will assume Seen is a typo and fix it) and birthdate will lead to the wrong kid getting a tooth drilled at the dentist, or the wrong health stats in the wrong file at the doctor's office. Their little league pictures will get deleted because the photographer had no idea there were two of them after photographing 100 tiny baseball players. The wrong kid will be sent to the science fair. The wrong kid will be signed up to throw shot put on the track team. And this doesn't even start in on the psychological impact of being treated as "the Seans" from Day 1.

cb_saturn5 avatar
Lunar Rat
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would a couple who struggled to conceive then torture their children with such ridiculous names. Sean is fine but Sean Sean is just cruel and as for 'Seen'.....perhaps nature was trying to tell them they shouldn't be parents.

robert-thornburrow avatar
Robert T
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think they should call "Seen" Bean instead. Then they will have the anti-Sean Bean, Bean Sean.

dpopknight avatar
Diane Knight
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'Dear Abby & Ann ' were born Pauline Esther and Esther Pauline. So that would be better in the future.

Load More Replies...
jacquelynnicolay avatar
J Nic
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My creepy father in law’s mother was named Anne. He married a woman named Ann. They had a daughter that they named… Ann. It’s f*****g confusing.

boredpanda_48 avatar
ZAPanda
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So just fwiw, Sean is Irish. The se part is "sh", similar to the "sh" sound in "fusion", where it is the "si" that makes the "sh" sound (or zh, if you want to be pedantic). Seen most definitely would be pronounced SHEN in Irish gaelic. If you wanted it to be pronounced 'shawn" as well, you'd have to go with the anglicised spelling of "shaun" or "shawn".

oshaunfisher avatar
Jerry Mathers
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for pointing this out. I don't get why someone would name their kid Seen, want it pronounced as "Shawn" when there is no language precedent for pronouncing it like that. It will always be mispronounced because it is t pronounced that way. It's akin to me naming my kid "Rob" but telling everyone that it pronounced "Mark". It makes no sense, it will never be pronounced correctly, gives the kid a lifetime of annoyance, just because she thinks it clever.

Load More Replies...
aradiav avatar
Aradia Sayner
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know a lot of people feel that the OP was a little blunt. Australians (a lot of us) tend to be this way, which is why I'm not surprised that the parents are not offended.

kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Calling yourself honest or blunt is usually a cover for rudeness. However, there are times when a bit of well-put and well-placed bluntness is a necessary wake up call that jars people out of their delusional bubbles and back to the real world, where kids are endlessly and often brutally teased and bullied for having unusual names.

Load More Replies...
marieke_3 avatar
Llewella
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just something I learned at my old job. Twins: same birthdate, same address, same initials means paperwork madness for a lot of things and will mean a lot of phonecalls etc when stuff gets mixed up

deborahbrett avatar
Deborah B
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Way to screw up their lives. Sean Sean is an annoying name to start off with. Seen Sean (pronounced Shaun Shaun) is worse, even before them being brothers, let alone twins. Glad the parents are at least reconsidering for poor Seen. Clearly twin newborns resulted in sleep deprivation stupidity.

tehbonz avatar
B
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And then there's Elon Musk naming his kid after six elements on the periodic table or something...

ikaakbar avatar
PepsiCoke
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Elon's kid will grow up so sheltered that they will never need (figuratively?) to lift a finger to get anything. Priviledged kid can be named whatever. Just don't do that to the kids who'll need to socialize and work to live.

Load More Replies...
kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Litmus Test for naming your children: Put a title, like Dr, President, General, Reverend (if you’re religious), or The Honorable in front of it. If the two do not fit together, change the name. Hell, start with the title, and find names that feel right with it, and give the best one to your kid. Give them higher aspirations by throwing cutesy or unusual or oddly spelled (or “clever” that isn’t clever at all) names out the window, and giving them names that command respect.

tahadata avatar
Lara Verne
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Naming your twins the same is ridiculous, no matter how you spell their names. And no one would pronounce Seen as Shawn.

kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s bad enough when parents of twins give the, rhyming names, like Ronny and Donny. One letter shouldn’t be the only difference. Especially if they’re identical twins.

Load More Replies...
kaching12 avatar
Yort
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man, I have a normal, common name, and it’s constantly getting misspelled or mispronounced, so I can’t imagine going through life being called Seen Sean with my brother Sean Sean. Plus it’s hard enough for twins to be treated as separate people even without nearly identical names. I like when twins get matching theme names (like one name means sun and the other means moon, or maybe one name means red and the other means green) but not rhyming names or alliterative names or super similar names

fuyu avatar
fu yu
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The parents were saved by endless conversation from their children on why they got such horrid names

kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or a ballpeen hammer to the skull, after 16 or 17 years of constant teasing and bullying because of it.

Load More Replies...
libby6 avatar
Stargazer66
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Idiot parents. This is why some countries have a committee that reviews names on submitted forms for issuing birth certificates. Elon Musk tried to name his son X Æ A-12 but California Vital Records department refused to file it. Then there's the woman who blew up the internet for insisting that her son's first name was Squire Sebastian Senator and EVERYONE must use all. three. names! No nicknames allowed!! Poor S cubed.

williamtravis avatar
William Travis
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The problem with a name the parents find 'cute' is that it often haunts the child for years. My advice is find 3 random ten year old kids and pitch a name to them, if any of them snorts, laughs, or groans - find a new name. Also never give a child a name that rhymes with something silly or obscene.

griffinx avatar
Fluffy Griffin
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So it took me a very long time to learn that Sean was Shawn... Like mid 20s. I still have to go back and remind myself every time I read it now. Though I still say "Seen Bean". Every. Time.

mybeautifulparanoiax avatar
toxxic
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Credit wouldn't be an issue because they'll have different social security numbers

ikaakbar avatar
PepsiCoke
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To think that there are babies out there whose name are variations of Covid/Corona.

francesca-eleonora_caplan avatar
Frannie Kaplan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is done strategically. Some twins or people with twins imagine a future where twins help eachother out, for example sitting exams or job interviews for eachother. They just say "no this is the Irish spelling" or "the Hebrew version is like this in English you spell it like this." A small number of crimnials have also operated this way.

michelelein avatar
Michele Lein
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(Continued from last post). as in Michelle, while the men's name was spelled Michele. I hated my first name all through school, and have only begun to accept it in the last five years. My last name is spelled Lein, but pronounced Lynn, I don't know why. So all of the teachers would pronounce it as Lean, or Line. I gave up trying to get people to pronounce it as my family did, and since about senior year in high school and to this day, I pronounce it as Lean. You really have to be careful, or your child can suffer for years. I still feel very un-feminine when people who don't know me say my name out loud. In middle school it became unbearable, because not only did people say my name as Michael, I also felt this way because instead of looking like my mom and her family, I looked just like my dad. He was older and had no family close, so it was like them vs me and my dad. And for an added thing, my mom's family did not approve of her marriage, so there was a lot tension there.

michelelein avatar
Michele Lein
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kids can be cruel about names. When I was pregnant, I wanted a name for my baby (a girl) that was feminine and also unique. This was 21 years ago so although I've seen this name, or a variation of since, it was not a popular name then. The name was Sarianna, pronounced just as it sounds. When I thought about the reaction other people and kids would have to this name, the kids chanting 'sorry Anna', or just 'Sorry' immediately came to mind. Also the possibility of it being shortened to Anna (nice name but not unique) or Sara. Teachers in my day also could be quite dense about the pronunciation of unique names. My first and last names were hard for people because of the spelling. Back then, Michele was just starting to be used for a female name. I can't count the number of times I was called Michael, both as a mistake by teachers, and as a mean taunt by kids. To make matters worse, the other girls' parent's spelled the name with two Ls, which in France is the female spelling,

amethystfeb2828 avatar
Arctic Fox Lover
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Inspired by Montgomery Montgomery from A Series of Unfortunate Events, maybe?

vladimiramat avatar
Vladimíra Matejová
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

a good idea if you want to name dogs, not children. it is hilarious enough (in both good and bad sense of the word) if you name your twins something like Hansel and Gretel or Luke an Leia but to give them both the same name is not even hilarious that is cruel and can cause a lot of problems in the future.

claireskrine avatar
Just saying
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sean and Seamus (Shawn and Shamus) would work if they want to keep it a bit similar.

bluemom2017 avatar
Pamela Blue
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had two old twin brothers as neighbours (in their 80s). They were called Ron and Don. For the first while I had the devil of a time telling them apart, but then Ron was a bit more "messy" in his personal grooming than his brother, so that's what I looked for. Messy hair was Ron, tidily combed hair was Don. LoL!

katlia avatar
kat lia
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The name maybe stupid but there is a nice way of letting her know about it like is a tactful way especially if you two has been working for a while.

dawnnelson avatar
Dawn Nelson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was going to name my first born son Linden. After the tree. But my co-workers spoke up and harassed me because his last name also begins with a L and speaking the first and last name together sounded weird they said. I took their advice, glad I did. Sometimes taking advice is a good thing, but in the story above she was just simply Very rude and not okay how she did it.

njscrutton avatar
OhForSmegSake
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think pregnancy brain/baby brain has a lot to answer for when it comes to people giving their kids stupid names. The amount of posts on Fb i have seen that say something like "I'm 3 weeks from my due date and I want to call the baby Rainbow Fart- Rainbow bc I love Rainbows, and Fart after my first guinea pig that my brother named and then tragically killed when he accidentally sat on it. My husband hates it, hiw do I convince him?" 🙄 Sweetie, you're child is going to sound like a My Lil Pony parody on Robot Chicken. Go with your husband's suggestion.

dpopknight avatar
Diane Knight
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom was a postal worker and had a family that named all the boys' John ( dad's name too)--just different middle names , they'd get pissed if she delivered a piece of mail to the wrong address (as they stayed in the area too). Problem not hers, she'd say.

edenrae87 avatar
Waco Bayless
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I put my foot in my mouth when my step-brother's wife was pregnant. While attending her baby shower, I was chatting with some other guests about what the couple planned on naming the new baby when I spoke up and said, "Someone said they should name it John Wayne if it's a boy", then I laughed. The mother of the mother-to-be said," That was me." I just stood there with my mouth opened. They ended up having twin girls and named them normal names.

kathleengraceart avatar
Lily
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That wasn't a comment, it was an excited utterance - a knee-jerk reaction, and yeah, it's stupid. It's one of those things where you ask yourself, "Did I say that out loud?" We've all done it. Apologize if you think you need to, or HR demands it, but yeah, it's idiotic.

d_harkness avatar
Swiss_David
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I went to school with a Steven and Stephen. One of which was killed by police at a Sydney casino.

mhbonal avatar
pelemele
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At one point I had a colleague who wanted to call her baby Crystal, I burst out laughing suggesting Arcopal (it's a brand of tempered glass tableware)... Finally she gave her another first name... ^^'

njscrutton avatar
OhForSmegSake
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My cousin was thinking of Chlamydia for her second born. She couldn't remember where she'd heard it but just thought it was pretty. Thankfully she told her doctor, who then pointed out she'd been treated for it 5 years before...

Load More Replies...
c_mayo_1 avatar
RatherLoopy
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was recently chatting with someone I knew in high school fifty years ago. She and her twin had been named with quirky variations of conventional rhyming names and before the girls were well into their adulthood, they'd both changed their names to the more conventional spellings of their names. Unusual names can be a significant hindrance throughout a person's entire lifetime.

tracysellars avatar
Tracy Sellars
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ahh Queensland, the Florida of Australia. Lovely people, just a bit different.

phil84vaive avatar
Phil Vaive
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say everyone sucks. It's a dumb idea, but the lady who wrote the post needs to learn how to be professional. When she said that calling her co-worker an idiot isn't the worst thing she's said to the woman all year, that sent up a big red flag for me. She sounds like an asshole too. That said, she wasn't wrong, but could have been a lot more tactful about how she broached the subject.

vladimiramat avatar
Vladimíra Matejová
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

she said they had good relations. Friends sometimes call each other idiots. If you are friends with someone you need to tell them the truth even if it is unpleasant when it can be beneficial. She could have phrased it better, but it seems it just bursted out of her with surprise. The mother needed to hear it. Sean Sean is a bad choice already but to have a twin named Seen Sean it is purely cruel

Load More Replies...
veni_vidi_vicky avatar
Vicky Zar
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Cool that the parents had a laugh at it and decided better in the end. Such a nice outcome in comparison to others. These parents clearly were just overwhelmed and had a brain fart moment. Acknowledge your mistakes and learn from them.

amethystfeb2828 avatar
Arctic Fox Lover
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well, not exactly. They're still keeping Sean's name, and they're only changing Seen's.

Load More Replies...
zohanekouian avatar
znzn
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think its a stupid and dangerous idea. The confusion for their parents or other people is going to be the least important thing. The most importantly aspect is about their sense of individuality. Name is an important aspect in personal identification. Imagine not only having someone beside you your whole life but also with a same name. Parents of twins have to practice to value eachkid as an individual but they are doing the exact opposite. I feel sorry for the kids :(

jaekrijnen avatar
Jaekry
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Has Sean Sean seen Seen Sean? No, Seen Sean is been seen with Shawn and Shaun.

hermionem avatar
Hermione
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Has Sean Sean seen Seen Sean by the seashore? Seen Sean saw Sean Sean by the the seashore.

Load More Replies...
giulia-arrigoni21 avatar
Emmydearest
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

In Italy there's a bunch of rules for naming your child: no names that refer to offensive or ridiculous things (like Satan), no geographic names (except for a few ones), no names of historical negative people (like Adolf Hitler), no same names of the parents (not even with "junior"), no same names of siblings, no literature, movies or cartoon names (like Macbeth, Dracula, Pikachu...), no names different from your gender (like a baby girl named Marco or a baby boy named Maria).

beth_landers avatar
Beth L
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I volunteered at a lot of covid vaccine clinics last year. You'd be surprised how often we got duplicate names registered on the same day - and we're not even talking John Smith level of common names. We kept their medical records straight by BIRTH DATE. Having two kids with the exact same name (because people will assume Seen is a typo and fix it) and birthdate will lead to the wrong kid getting a tooth drilled at the dentist, or the wrong health stats in the wrong file at the doctor's office. Their little league pictures will get deleted because the photographer had no idea there were two of them after photographing 100 tiny baseball players. The wrong kid will be sent to the science fair. The wrong kid will be signed up to throw shot put on the track team. And this doesn't even start in on the psychological impact of being treated as "the Seans" from Day 1.

cb_saturn5 avatar
Lunar Rat
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Why would a couple who struggled to conceive then torture their children with such ridiculous names. Sean is fine but Sean Sean is just cruel and as for 'Seen'.....perhaps nature was trying to tell them they shouldn't be parents.

robert-thornburrow avatar
Robert T
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think they should call "Seen" Bean instead. Then they will have the anti-Sean Bean, Bean Sean.

dpopknight avatar
Diane Knight
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'Dear Abby & Ann ' were born Pauline Esther and Esther Pauline. So that would be better in the future.

Load More Replies...
jacquelynnicolay avatar
J Nic
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My creepy father in law’s mother was named Anne. He married a woman named Ann. They had a daughter that they named… Ann. It’s f*****g confusing.

boredpanda_48 avatar
ZAPanda
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So just fwiw, Sean is Irish. The se part is "sh", similar to the "sh" sound in "fusion", where it is the "si" that makes the "sh" sound (or zh, if you want to be pedantic). Seen most definitely would be pronounced SHEN in Irish gaelic. If you wanted it to be pronounced 'shawn" as well, you'd have to go with the anglicised spelling of "shaun" or "shawn".

oshaunfisher avatar
Jerry Mathers
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you for pointing this out. I don't get why someone would name their kid Seen, want it pronounced as "Shawn" when there is no language precedent for pronouncing it like that. It will always be mispronounced because it is t pronounced that way. It's akin to me naming my kid "Rob" but telling everyone that it pronounced "Mark". It makes no sense, it will never be pronounced correctly, gives the kid a lifetime of annoyance, just because she thinks it clever.

Load More Replies...
aradiav avatar
Aradia Sayner
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I know a lot of people feel that the OP was a little blunt. Australians (a lot of us) tend to be this way, which is why I'm not surprised that the parents are not offended.

kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Calling yourself honest or blunt is usually a cover for rudeness. However, there are times when a bit of well-put and well-placed bluntness is a necessary wake up call that jars people out of their delusional bubbles and back to the real world, where kids are endlessly and often brutally teased and bullied for having unusual names.

Load More Replies...
marieke_3 avatar
Llewella
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just something I learned at my old job. Twins: same birthdate, same address, same initials means paperwork madness for a lot of things and will mean a lot of phonecalls etc when stuff gets mixed up

deborahbrett avatar
Deborah B
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Way to screw up their lives. Sean Sean is an annoying name to start off with. Seen Sean (pronounced Shaun Shaun) is worse, even before them being brothers, let alone twins. Glad the parents are at least reconsidering for poor Seen. Clearly twin newborns resulted in sleep deprivation stupidity.

tehbonz avatar
B
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And then there's Elon Musk naming his kid after six elements on the periodic table or something...

ikaakbar avatar
PepsiCoke
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Elon's kid will grow up so sheltered that they will never need (figuratively?) to lift a finger to get anything. Priviledged kid can be named whatever. Just don't do that to the kids who'll need to socialize and work to live.

Load More Replies...
kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Litmus Test for naming your children: Put a title, like Dr, President, General, Reverend (if you’re religious), or The Honorable in front of it. If the two do not fit together, change the name. Hell, start with the title, and find names that feel right with it, and give the best one to your kid. Give them higher aspirations by throwing cutesy or unusual or oddly spelled (or “clever” that isn’t clever at all) names out the window, and giving them names that command respect.

tahadata avatar
Lara Verne
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Naming your twins the same is ridiculous, no matter how you spell their names. And no one would pronounce Seen as Shawn.

kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It’s bad enough when parents of twins give the, rhyming names, like Ronny and Donny. One letter shouldn’t be the only difference. Especially if they’re identical twins.

Load More Replies...
kaching12 avatar
Yort
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Man, I have a normal, common name, and it’s constantly getting misspelled or mispronounced, so I can’t imagine going through life being called Seen Sean with my brother Sean Sean. Plus it’s hard enough for twins to be treated as separate people even without nearly identical names. I like when twins get matching theme names (like one name means sun and the other means moon, or maybe one name means red and the other means green) but not rhyming names or alliterative names or super similar names

fuyu avatar
fu yu
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The parents were saved by endless conversation from their children on why they got such horrid names

kathrynbaylis_1 avatar
Kathryn Baylis
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Or a ballpeen hammer to the skull, after 16 or 17 years of constant teasing and bullying because of it.

Load More Replies...
libby6 avatar
Stargazer66
Community Member
1 month ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Idiot parents. This is why some countries have a committee that reviews names on submitted forms for issuing birth certificates. Elon Musk tried to name his son X Æ A-12 but California Vital Records department refused to file it. Then there's the woman who blew up the internet for insisting that her son's first name was Squire Sebastian Senator and EVERYONE must use all. three. names! No nicknames allowed!! Poor S cubed.

williamtravis avatar
William Travis
Community Member
3 months ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The problem with a name the parents find 'cute' is that it often haunts the child for years. My advice is find 3 random ten year old kids and pitch a name to them, if any of them snorts, laughs, or groans - find a new name. Also never give a child a name that rhymes with something silly or obscene.

griffinx avatar
Fluffy Griffin
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So it took me a very long time to learn that Sean was Shawn... Like mid 20s. I still have to go back and remind myself every time I read it now. Though I still say "Seen Bean". Every. Time.

mybeautifulparanoiax avatar
toxxic
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Credit wouldn't be an issue because they'll have different social security numbers

ikaakbar avatar
PepsiCoke
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

To think that there are babies out there whose name are variations of Covid/Corona.

francesca-eleonora_caplan avatar
Frannie Kaplan
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is done strategically. Some twins or people with twins imagine a future where twins help eachother out, for example sitting exams or job interviews for eachother. They just say "no this is the Irish spelling" or "the Hebrew version is like this in English you spell it like this." A small number of crimnials have also operated this way.

michelelein avatar
Michele Lein
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

(Continued from last post). as in Michelle, while the men's name was spelled Michele. I hated my first name all through school, and have only begun to accept it in the last five years. My last name is spelled Lein, but pronounced Lynn, I don't know why. So all of the teachers would pronounce it as Lean, or Line. I gave up trying to get people to pronounce it as my family did, and since about senior year in high school and to this day, I pronounce it as Lean. You really have to be careful, or your child can suffer for years. I still feel very un-feminine when people who don't know me say my name out loud. In middle school it became unbearable, because not only did people say my name as Michael, I also felt this way because instead of looking like my mom and her family, I looked just like my dad. He was older and had no family close, so it was like them vs me and my dad. And for an added thing, my mom's family did not approve of her marriage, so there was a lot tension there.

michelelein avatar
Michele Lein
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kids can be cruel about names. When I was pregnant, I wanted a name for my baby (a girl) that was feminine and also unique. This was 21 years ago so although I've seen this name, or a variation of since, it was not a popular name then. The name was Sarianna, pronounced just as it sounds. When I thought about the reaction other people and kids would have to this name, the kids chanting 'sorry Anna', or just 'Sorry' immediately came to mind. Also the possibility of it being shortened to Anna (nice name but not unique) or Sara. Teachers in my day also could be quite dense about the pronunciation of unique names. My first and last names were hard for people because of the spelling. Back then, Michele was just starting to be used for a female name. I can't count the number of times I was called Michael, both as a mistake by teachers, and as a mean taunt by kids. To make matters worse, the other girls' parent's spelled the name with two Ls, which in France is the female spelling,

amethystfeb2828 avatar
Arctic Fox Lover
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Inspired by Montgomery Montgomery from A Series of Unfortunate Events, maybe?

vladimiramat avatar
Vladimíra Matejová
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

a good idea if you want to name dogs, not children. it is hilarious enough (in both good and bad sense of the word) if you name your twins something like Hansel and Gretel or Luke an Leia but to give them both the same name is not even hilarious that is cruel and can cause a lot of problems in the future.

claireskrine avatar
Just saying
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sean and Seamus (Shawn and Shamus) would work if they want to keep it a bit similar.

bluemom2017 avatar
Pamela Blue
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I had two old twin brothers as neighbours (in their 80s). They were called Ron and Don. For the first while I had the devil of a time telling them apart, but then Ron was a bit more "messy" in his personal grooming than his brother, so that's what I looked for. Messy hair was Ron, tidily combed hair was Don. LoL!

katlia avatar
kat lia
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The name maybe stupid but there is a nice way of letting her know about it like is a tactful way especially if you two has been working for a while.

dawnnelson avatar
Dawn Nelson
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was going to name my first born son Linden. After the tree. But my co-workers spoke up and harassed me because his last name also begins with a L and speaking the first and last name together sounded weird they said. I took their advice, glad I did. Sometimes taking advice is a good thing, but in the story above she was just simply Very rude and not okay how she did it.

njscrutton avatar
OhForSmegSake
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think pregnancy brain/baby brain has a lot to answer for when it comes to people giving their kids stupid names. The amount of posts on Fb i have seen that say something like "I'm 3 weeks from my due date and I want to call the baby Rainbow Fart- Rainbow bc I love Rainbows, and Fart after my first guinea pig that my brother named and then tragically killed when he accidentally sat on it. My husband hates it, hiw do I convince him?" 🙄 Sweetie, you're child is going to sound like a My Lil Pony parody on Robot Chicken. Go with your husband's suggestion.

dpopknight avatar
Diane Knight
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My mom was a postal worker and had a family that named all the boys' John ( dad's name too)--just different middle names , they'd get pissed if she delivered a piece of mail to the wrong address (as they stayed in the area too). Problem not hers, she'd say.

edenrae87 avatar
Waco Bayless
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I put my foot in my mouth when my step-brother's wife was pregnant. While attending her baby shower, I was chatting with some other guests about what the couple planned on naming the new baby when I spoke up and said, "Someone said they should name it John Wayne if it's a boy", then I laughed. The mother of the mother-to-be said," That was me." I just stood there with my mouth opened. They ended up having twin girls and named them normal names.

kathleengraceart avatar
Lily
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That wasn't a comment, it was an excited utterance - a knee-jerk reaction, and yeah, it's stupid. It's one of those things where you ask yourself, "Did I say that out loud?" We've all done it. Apologize if you think you need to, or HR demands it, but yeah, it's idiotic.

d_harkness avatar
Swiss_David
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I went to school with a Steven and Stephen. One of which was killed by police at a Sydney casino.

mhbonal avatar
pelemele
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At one point I had a colleague who wanted to call her baby Crystal, I burst out laughing suggesting Arcopal (it's a brand of tempered glass tableware)... Finally she gave her another first name... ^^'

njscrutton avatar
OhForSmegSake
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My cousin was thinking of Chlamydia for her second born. She couldn't remember where she'd heard it but just thought it was pretty. Thankfully she told her doctor, who then pointed out she'd been treated for it 5 years before...

Load More Replies...
c_mayo_1 avatar
RatherLoopy
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I was recently chatting with someone I knew in high school fifty years ago. She and her twin had been named with quirky variations of conventional rhyming names and before the girls were well into their adulthood, they'd both changed their names to the more conventional spellings of their names. Unusual names can be a significant hindrance throughout a person's entire lifetime.

tracysellars avatar
Tracy Sellars
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ahh Queensland, the Florida of Australia. Lovely people, just a bit different.

phil84vaive avatar
Phil Vaive
Community Member
2 years ago

This comment is hidden. Click here to view.

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say everyone sucks. It's a dumb idea, but the lady who wrote the post needs to learn how to be professional. When she said that calling her co-worker an idiot isn't the worst thing she's said to the woman all year, that sent up a big red flag for me. She sounds like an asshole too. That said, she wasn't wrong, but could have been a lot more tactful about how she broached the subject.

vladimiramat avatar
Vladimíra Matejová
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

she said they had good relations. Friends sometimes call each other idiots. If you are friends with someone you need to tell them the truth even if it is unpleasant when it can be beneficial. She could have phrased it better, but it seems it just bursted out of her with surprise. The mother needed to hear it. Sean Sean is a bad choice already but to have a twin named Seen Sean it is purely cruel

Load More Replies...
Popular on Bored Panda
Trending on Bored Panda
Also on Bored Panda