Baby name dilemma: Woman wants to name baby after fungal infection after joke name suggestion from brother

Baby names can be divisive, but one man is pleading for help after giving his sister a list of joke names – one of which she’s now set on. 

Sharing his dilemma on Reddit’s ‘Am I The A–hole’ thread, he explained his sister was currently pregnant and having a really hard time deciding on the perfect name. 

He said “she was determined to find the single perfect name” but even when her baby shower came around she still had nothing, so he came up with a silly idea. 

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“Anyway, I knew she was struggling, so in addition to the $900 wooden crib on her list that I got for her, I gave her a list of (obviously) joke baby names. We have a really close relationship, and it was in line with both our senses of humor,” he wrote.

“She’s a nurse, and I’m a biology student, so all the names were medications, infections, unpleasant animals, etcetera, that all sound like lovely girls’ names out of context. 

Some of them were a little bit obscure, sure, but I included some obvious ones like ‘Viagra’ and ‘Hernia’ for good measure.”

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Well, it backfired big time because two weeks later she told him that she and her husband had finally settled on a name: Malessezia. 

“The baby’s name is Malassezia. One of the names on my joke list,” he continued. 

“Outside of the immediate issues (nearly impossible to pronounce on the first try, the ‘ass’ smack dab it the middle of it, the first syllable being mal-, literally meaning bad or evil), it’s also the name of a very common fungal infection.

“One that my sister and I are both genetically predisposed to. One that we’ve both had multiple times throughout our lives. Her daughter will almost certainly catch it at some time!” 

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Despite pointing out that it was meant to be a joke, she’s still going ahead with it. 

“She says that it’s so obscure that no one will ever think twice about it,” he continued. 

The man doubts her husband has any idea what the name really means either. 

“I told her that the name was completely unacceptable, and I was shocked that she chose it,” he continued. 

“I even suggested some similar names, like Mallory, Azalea, or Anastasia, that would be more acceptable, but she wouldn’t hear it! 

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“I think it’s pregnancy hormones, and she’ll regret the decision very soon after her daughter is born.” 

The people of Reddit agreed the name is awful, but a lot of them wondered if she was just trolling him back after suggesting the joke names. 

“They are just winding you up. Go along with the joke,” replied one person. 

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Others suggested that telling the husband could quickly change the baby’s name. 

“I’d also make a point of telling her husband what the name means. If it’s not on the legal list of banned names (King, Prince, bin Laden, Jesus etc) then it devolves to common sense which is sometimes in short supply,” replied one user. 

Another replied, “Just tell the husband what it means. He’ll shut it down.”

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