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What do you do if somebody 'steals' your baby name?

The top baby names of the year were released Monday and with them, a powder keg of a question has been raised: How do you feel about people baby-name poaching? One expectant mom named Meghan experienced this first-hand. Meghan let slip at her office that she intended to give her baby a family name, Benjamin, she wrote to NY Times etiquette columnist Philip Galanes, who published her conundrum Sun
James Cheng / msnbc.com / Today

The top baby names of the year were released Monday and with them, a powder keg of a question has been raised: How do you feel about people baby-name poaching? 

One expectant mom named Meghan experienced this first-hand. Meghan let slip at her office that she intended to give her baby a family name, Benjamin, she wrote to NY Times etiquette columnist Philip Galanes, who published her conundrum Sunday. Shortly after, Meghan's assistant, also pregnant, announced that she was also naming her baby Benjamin, because she'd dug the sound of it. Meghan asked Philip if she could call out the assistant for criminal copycatting.

Kathie Lee and Hoda were split on the issue. KLG thought Benjamin is too common a name to steal: "I think if it was Brently or Briella, that would be one thing," she argued. But Hoda suspected that the assistant may have taken the name purely for the sake of copycatting.

Facebook commenters had tons to say when we asked at KLGH and at TODAY Moms about Grand Theft Benjamin:

Michael Huffines said: "Happened to my sister. A cousin took her daughter's name before either was born. I'm sorta glad because it was a redneck name."

Heather 'Hill' Booker said: "When I told our first child's name after we found out we were having a girl, I had a lady tell me that it was the same thing she named her cat."

Jessica Wilkinson-Manfre said: "My ex husband and I agreed if we had a girl, we would name her "Megan Elizabeth", after my grandmother. We did not have a girl, but two beautiful boys. After our divorce, my ex husband's girlfriend became pregnant. She had a girl. My ex husband picked out her name... Megan Elizabeth. A stab in my heart. Downside: it was cruel. Upside: my sons have a sister named after my beloved grandmother."

One thing is for sure: Hoda's mom probably didn't have to deal that problem. KLG joked that "Hoda" probably didn't crack the top 100.

"Or the top 100,000," said Hoda.

What do you think? Is it stealing to take someone else's baby name? 

Julieanne Smolinski is a TODAY.com contributor. She spells her name all crazy so nobody takes it.

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