A woman has blasted her coworker for naming his daughter after a major battle, as she claims it’s distasteful and harmful for his child’s future.
She explained how her work colleague returned to the office after enjoying a holiday to Greece with his wife – and came to learn they took inspiration from the country to name their newborn. But she is so disgusted by the name they picked out, and wants to make sure he doesn’t go through with it.
Taking to Reddit, the woman said: “They had recently found out the gender of the child (female), but were still thinking about name options. Well, they have one now.
“My coworker let me know yesterday that they got inspired from their trip and will be naming their daughter ‘Thermopylae’.
“I don’t even know what to say. I tried to discourage him from that, but he’s set on it because it ‘sounds like one of those names like Emily or Kylie but more unique’.”
She gently reminded him about the Battle of Thermopylae fought in 480 BC between between the Achaemenid Persian Empire – but he doesn’t understand her issue.
He doesn’t believe anyone would think about the battle when speaking to her – and doesn’t want to give up the opportunity to give her an interesting and unique name.
She added: “He responded with ‘there were civil war battles fought in Georgia and people still name their daughters that’.
“As if it couldn’t get any worse, they already have a son who has a very normal name along the lines of Liam or Jacob. Genuinely, what goes through the minds of some people?”
Commenting on her post, one user said: “Think telling them it translates to ‘the hot gates’ would have any effect?” While another user added: “My first thought (after Battle of Thermopylae) was, ‘Amelia Mignonette Thermopolis Renaldi, Princess of Genovia’.
A third person chimed in: “I used to sell kitchen replacement parts and… it’s so similar to thermopile, a part on ovens.” While someone else added: “All I can think of is Mia Thermopolis from the Princess Diaries, sorry but that is just such a stupid choice of name. t doesn’t sound pretty or cool, and she will most likely never choose to use her full name unless forced to.”
A final user added: “Athena is a lovely Greek name that’s unique, easy to spell if you’re not a green logo coffee shop employee, and doesn’t mean ‘the gates of Hell’. If they don’t like that there’s always Persephone, Iris, Penelope, Calliope… Baby Thermopillee is never finding her name on a keychain.”
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