My stepsister named her two dogs after my kids to prove a point

"I'll never get why she had to be 'right' about this."

“My stepsister, *Steph and I have always had a unique relationship,” Sydney mum, *Anna says.

“We get along like a house on fire, are always laughing until we are not. Usually, when things fall apart, it's because Steph has taken something too far, a habit I’d hoped she’d grow out of but never has, even now in her thirties.”

As adults, one of the things the women often bicker about is Anna's kids’ names: Milo, Daisy, and Frankie.

Steph frequently teases her that they are pet names, not human names - but she also means it, too.

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"It's not funny, it's hurtful"

“My eldest, Milo, she particularly makes fun of, and always tells me how it reminds her of Milo and Otis, the 1980’s film.

"She thinks it is funny and always says she’s not being serious, but I know that's not true, and I find it hurtful."

Over the years, Anna says that Steph has printed out top pet name lists from Australia and highlighted whenever her kid’s names are on them.  Or if they are out and she hears a dog owner calling one of the names she smirks or nudges Anna as if to say, “I told you so.”

Despite Anna’s numerous requests for her stepsister to stop doing this, telling her how hurtful she finds it, Steph has continued for years. But it was an event late last year when Anna believes Steph went “too far.”

Puppies Frankie and Daisy. Image: supplied

“Steph was adopting a pair of sibling dogs from her local shelter and had been super excited about it. I was really happy for her too because Steph adores animals and had recently purchased a property that would allow her to have the space they needed. But when I got the call that evening to tell me that they were home, she revealed a detail that very quickly transformed my joy into anger…she had named the dogs Frankie and Daisy,” she says.

When Anna asked her why she had given her dogs the same names as two of Anna’s children, Steph told her that she wanted to “honour” her nieces because she loved them so much but Anna believed it was purely so she could prove her point.

“I know she did it to piss me off, actually I know she did it so she could be ‘right,’” says Anna.

“While she may genuinely like the names, Steph has always maintained they are pet names, not human names, so when she saw an opportunity to prove her ridiculous point, she took it.”

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A joke taken too far

When Anna first heard what Steph had done, she says she was in disbelief and had thought that she was joking, or that she’d change the names. But as time went on, she realised that this wasn’t the case and that the dog’s names were here for good.

Worse, Anna says, is that no one else seems to think what Steph has done is that bad.

“My parents and my husband think it's ridiculous, but they all just brush it off as a typical Steph thing to do and my kids think it’s great but that’s because they are still young and think having a dog named after them makes them mini celebrities. So, it is just me left angry about the whole thing which makes it even harder,” Anna says.

Another way Steph rubs in what she’s done, Anna says, is by bringing more attention to it, especially when they are in public.

“We’ll be at a park, or the beach and Steph always yells out her dog’s names if I’ve just called out to my kids, or she will introduce the dogs if we bump into people we know, just so she can point out that the names are the same. It is just so immature.

“Every time she does it, I can't help but get frustrated and embarrassed too, probably why she keeps doing it.".

Additionally, Anna says that Steph has mentioned a few times that she won't stop with what she labels a “harmless joke,” and when she has the opportunity in the future, she will take it a step further by adopting a cat who she will name, yep you guessed it, Milo.

“It’s a joke now, but one day it will happen. And I feel like I have no choice but to just grin and (barely) bear it.”

*Names changed for privacy reasons

Originally published as My stepsister named her two dogs after my kids to prove a point