Dad barely in my life, named his daughter after my namesake... is that weird ?

I’m not using our real names for privacy, but these example names have the exact same type of difference as our actual names.
Let’s say my grandma’s name was Isabella. She named me Isabelle after herself ( actually it had to be Isabella but my mum wanted to just change it alittle) , my grandma passed away before my dad remarried and had another daughter. He then named his daughter Isabella, after the same grandma.( His mum)
My dad was barely in my life. I was the kid who would maybe go to his house twice a year, and some years not at all. So I think that context is part of why this has always felt strange to me. Sometimes I wonder if, consciously or not, he was trying to erase or replace me in some way.
He’s done other terrible things where there’s no confusion about whether they were wrong, but this is one thing I’ve never known how to interpret.
I can’t ask him because I’ve been no contact with him for years( for other reasons). I’m not calling him a narcissist, but he has traits where conversations like this tend to end in blame shifting or gaslighting.
Also, I actually asked both my dad and stepmum who chose the name in the middle of normal conversations. Surprisingly, my dad said my stepmum did, while my stepmum said my dad did.
I honestly believe my stepmum because she never even met his mum, so I don’t really see why she would choose to name her daughter after her.
And just to clarify, I was young and asked naturally, not confrontationally. I barely saw either of them, so I wasn’t really comfortable enough to question it further.

I’m genuinely open to all opinions, including people who think there’s nothing weird about it. I’ve just never felt comfortable discussing this with people who know me personally, so I’m curious how strangers would interpret it

Posted Aug 14, 2026, 6:05 AM UTC

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