A father is being slammed for making a big baby name blunder and changing his adopted son’s name in order to give it to his biological son instead.
He shares his dilemma on Reddit, asking whether or not he’s the asshole for doing so.
Have a read of his story and let us know what you think.
The heated baby name-changing debate
“Am I the a — hole for changing my adopted son’s name back to his original birth name after my bio son was born? (pregnancy and birth were kind of a miracle).”
The father is named August. August V to be exact. The V is kind of important here.
Anyhow, August V explains that he never thought he and his wife would have biological children. He was told that he would essentially never be able to father kids which broke his heart but also opened the door to adoption.
August is the fifth generation of Augusts in his family, and he always knew he wanted to name his son August VI to carry on the tradition.
When he adopted his son from Vietnam, he got his wish and was able to name him August VI.
“We started the adoption process right away looking in mostly foreign countries so it would go faster, and we were able to adopt a baby boy from Vietnam. His first name was Thien but my wife agreed to change his name to August VI.”
For seven years little August VI was known as August. However, then Papa August’s wife fell pregnant and, lo and behold, they were expecting a baby boy.
“I decided, with my wife’s agreement that because we now have a bio son, it is better to give the firstborn biological son the family name.”
The child formally known as August
So where does this leave 7-year-old August VI? According to Papa August, little August VI never really cared for his name and liked Thien better anyway. So he has officially gone back to Thien while his baby brother has been crowned August VI.
Naturally, the parents had to explain what was going on to schools and doctors and such and why their original August VI was now Thien. So they did. And the community DID NOT like it.
“We’re now essentially social pariahs and the subject of massive gossip – accusations of not loving Thien enough.
We’ve heard it all through closed mouth hushed tones. It’s gotten so bad. Am I the a — hole?”
The people have spoken
While the original thread is now deleted off of Reddit, the remaining comments point to an overwhelming – YES. Mate, you’re an asshole.
“You are the —-hole. People like you really shouldn’t adopt,” one user remarked.
“Are you also looking at the return policy on your oldest son or did the fine print get ya on the adoption?”
“You’re the a — hole. You dragged your kid to a legal proceeding to make sure he knows his place will always be less than your bio son.”
“Your new kid gets the family name because he’s your real kid. You made it very clear that you see him as your adopted son not worthy of the family name because he’s not your family,” a different member replied.
So, the internet folk have spoken but what do you think? Is Papa August an asshole for changing his adopted son’s name to give it to his newborn bio son? I’m going with yes on this one.
