People are stealing baby names. Quick, someone alert the authorities.

I have had this name saved since primary school. PRIMARY SCHOOL.

I was sitting on the train home reading through my Facebook newsfeed. When there it was. The baby announcement that stopped me mid scroll.

“Welcome to the world our beautiful daughter Rose! Mum and bub are doing well. They’re both very happy and healthy.”

It was my cousin and his wife who had just welcomed their child, a gorgeous little girl. But while it was a moment where I should have been happy, all I could do was gawk at the announcement and feel incredibly sick.

They had stolen my baby name.

Please do note, I use the term ‘stolen’ loosely.

There was no prior conversation. I didn’t know what they were thinking of naming her.

Conversely, they had no idea the name that they had chosen for their daughter, my now second cousin, was the exact name I had been wanting to call my own daughter one day.

Ever since I was a little girl. I do have a partner but we are not engaged or planning to start a family any time soon. So when I told friends and close family how upset I was, I received a chorus of, “But you’re not even pregnant. You can’t hold a baby name.”

I understand all of this. I totally get it. I even kind of agree. I’m not trying to deny that what they’re saying is true. But I can’t help but feel that the name has been stolen from me.

For some of the most unqiue celebrity baby names…(post continues after gallery.)

It has been the only name I have ever wanted for my future daughter. I decided on it in primary school and for whatever reason it has always stayed with me. They’re not exactly immediate family and we don’t see them all that often.

But I know one day if I decide to name my one-day daughter Rose, it will look like I copied them. It’s been suggested that I use alternative spelling, just to make it look different. But I don’t want to do that either.

I know you can’t mourn for something you never had. But I feel like I’m mourning the name I was going to use for my future child. I know it sounds ridiculous.

I may not even have a daughter one day. I just can’t shake the horrible feeling I have every time I think about it.

I can’t stop dreading the day when I’m going to see them at a family event and look into little baby Rose’s eyes and think, you have the name I wanted for my own.

This article was originally published on The Motherish. The author is known to The Motherish, but has requested to keep her identity private for fear of being snubbed at the next family Christmas party.   

So. Is stealing a baby name an actual thing?

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