A dad has been met with pushback after he asked for advice over his son’s name. The father-to-be explained that he and his wife had got down to two names they liked for their unborn child.
But after posting them to Reddit, the dad was told that they were ‘too clever’ and even told his son could be bullied because of it. The two names were Atreus and Atlas.
He personally prefers Atlas, while his wife is more inclined towards Atreus, so they turned to the internet for some external advice to help reach a consensus. Writing on the site, he said: “So my wife is pregnant, and we have two names picked out but can’t decide.
“The two options are Atreus (fearless) and Atlas (enduring). Our last name is Armstrong. Both names flow well with our last name.
“My wife is leaning towards Atreus and I’m leaning towards Atlas. Help us decide. What do you guys think?”.
One person replied: “In my humble opinion, no to both. It’s coming off a little too ‘clever’. You’re literally putting the world on that child’s shoulders by naming him Atlas.”
A second said: “Atlas Armstrong sounds like something a 12 year old came up with. Atreus is the annoying kid in the God of War series. Terrible names.”
Additionally, a commenter used the term “pretentious” to describe the names, and multiple people highlighted that either name could prompt teasing at school. They pointed out that Atreus could be mocked for its similarity to “uterus” and that Atlas Armstrong, in the context of Greek mythology where Atlas holds the world on his shoulders, “sounds like a parody,” BristolLive reports.
Some commenters presented alternative suggestions that still captured the dad’s preference for an ‘A’ themed name, including Atticus, Alexander, Arthur, and Arlo. There was a suggestion for names from Greek mythology that could be deemed more subtle, such as Damon, Philip, and Hector.