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The original was posted on /r/AmItheAsshole by /u/Final_Defenestration on 2023-08-31 02:00:38.

I (29F) adopted my sister’s (25F) dog last year after she passed away. He is a six-year-old blue heeler mix she named Newt. My sister was kind of obsessed with Eddie Redmayne, so she named him after a character he played.

My roommate, Anna (33F), hates the name and has been pestering me to change it. Her reason is that since Newt is now my dog, I can call him whatever I want. I don’t agree. His name is Newt because that is what his “mom” chose to call him. Newt was her baby. If he was a human child, it would be messed up if I changed his name to something that suited me better. It would be disrespectful to Josie’s memory.

Anna tried to call Newt by another name but I told her to knock it off because it was only confusing him. He doesn’t respond to her because she keeps insisting on calling him these dumb names like Bozzie or Raffles.

Anyway this past weekend, I was babysitting my friend’s kids. The kids are 2 and 4 and they are obsessed with Bluey. They’re at that age where they think any dog they see is the one from tv. For example, they think all German shepherds are Chase from Paw Patrol. When I first introduced Newt to them, I told them he was the same breed as Bluey so they started calling him “Bluey”. I don’t really correct them on it anymore because they’re going to outgrow that phase eventually. And they don’t come over often.

So Anna overheard the kids calling the dog “Bluey”. When they left, she got pissed at me. She asked me how is it okay to let a couple of kids call the dog “Bluey” but she can’t. I told her that the difference is that they rarely visit so Newt is going to forget the afternoon where he was “Bluey”. But we live together, and calling him “Bozzie” all the time is only going to confuse him even more. Of course he doesn’t come over to you when you call him because that’s not his name. And I’m not about to disrespect my sister’s memory and change her baby’s name just to appease my piece of work roommate.

Anna called me an asshole for creating a “hostile living space”. I reminded her that I called her that after she said that my dog is stupid.

AITA for setting that boundary with my roommate?