Simmone writes:
We are about to have our 3rd child and 2nd daughter. My husband and I have chosen Grace for the first name, but we are having a difficult time with the middle. We both like the feel of Grace Elizabeth, but this is where our question comes in. How do you feel about having 2 children with the same middle name? Is that ok? Or should we decide on something else to give the 2 girls different names? Do you have any other middle name suggestions?
Our other children are named:
Pearl Elizabeth
William (Liam) Luke
I think it’s fine to repeat a middle name, but I think it’s more FUN to find something different. And so let’s see if we can find some other middle names to throw into the idea pool:
Grace Amelia
Grace Angelica
Grace Cordelia
Grace Felicity
Grace Lavinia
Grace Olivia
Grace Veronica
Grace Victoria
Grace Virginia
And let’s take a poll, just to see the relatively popularity of these ideas. The poll is over to the right. [poll closed; see below]
[Poll results (256 votes total):
Elizabeth: 15 votes, roughly 6%
Amelia: 59 votes, roughly 23%
Angelica: 10 votes, roughly 4%
Cordelia: 18 votes, roughly 7%
Felicity: 7 votes, roughly 3%
Lavinia: 15 votes, roughly 6%
Olivia: 86 votes, roughly 33%
Veronica: 10 votes, roughly 4%
Victoria: 30 votes, roughly 12%
Virginia: 6 votes, roughly 2%]
I have a friend who is the youngest of eight kids, and she has four sisters. All of them have the middle name “Ann.” There’s Barbara Ann, Di Ann, etc. Then there’s my friend – her name is Ann Matilda! I guess her parents got tired of finding ____ Ann names! Anyway, I think it’s totally fine to reuse a middle name, and Grace Elizabeth is beautiful.
I have a friend with three boys, all of whom have their dad’s first name as their middle name. It’s OK, but I love names so much, I’d never pass up the chance to pick another one!
Lovely suggestions, Swistle. The only one that comes to mind to add is Margaret.
I wouldn’t reuse Elizabeth, as pretty as it is. I really love Swistle’s suggestions of Grace Amelia and Grace Cordelia. Also, to add my own:
Grace Fiona
Grace Evangeline
Grace Alana
Grace Alexandra
Grace Caroline
Grace Christina
Grace Katrina
Hope this helps! BTW, I love Pearl. :)
Reuse it! You love it! And Grace Elizabeth is beautiful.
I have two brothers who have the same middle name (Ronald, our Dad’s name). They actually like the connection. I especially think you should reuse it if there is a nice family connection.
I voted for Grace Olivia, but I like the flow of Olivia Grace better.
I love the name Grace but will not be able to use it as my soon to be husband’s parents have a dog named Gracie. Long story.
my MIL and SIL’s all share the same middle name, which I thought was the weirdest thing I’d ever heard of – but every time I mention it SOMEONE else says it’s fairly common… my sister shares her middle name with my mom, and I share my middle name with an aunt and cousin on each side of the family… so I guess the sharing is normal.
I myself think that siblings should have their own special middle name, but again – I’m not up on the trends apparently :) If we have a baby girl in two months she will share her middle name with my sister, mom, and hubs’ grandmother.
I think each sibling should have their own middle name, although I don’t really have a good reason. I just like names so much, I wouldn’t pass on the opportunity.
I voted for Grace Olivia, because it has a similar flow to Grace Elizabeth.
Using the same middle name is fine IMO, but being that there are plenty of nice-sounding alternatives…consider a few of Swistle’s options.
I really like when boys share a middle name that is the mother’s maiden name (and is actually a boys name – like Lucas or Clark).
I personally wouldn’t do it, but that’s because I can come up with dozens of names I always want to use. Paring it down is what I find difficult!
I think it would be nice for the two girls to each have their own middle name, especially as there are so many lovely names out there. Luckily, Grace is a beautiful name that sounds good with any number of middle names. I’ve noticed that longer names work particularly well with Grace (for example, Elizabeth is 4 syllables, as is Olivia). I like all of Swistle’s choices, but if you ‘re still searching, maybe you could look for names with 3 or 4 syllables to get a similar “flow” as Elizabeth.
I too was surprised to learn that in some families siblings share middle names. So to each their own. But I really love all of Swistle’s alternatives. Voting for one was very difficult. I ended up voting for Lavinia because it has a Victorian feel to me. Lavina was the middle name of one of the former US first ladies: Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison.
I’d go with one of Swistle’s suggestions. But middle names are fairly inconsequential, so it’s not a huge deal to repeat them. Thus has Mairzy spoken.
Well, I love the names of your other kids, so I say go with your gut on this one.
i like Olivia Grace or Amelia Grace better than the reverse of the two but you could still call her Grace of course.
I think Grace Victoria is a great complementary name to Pearl Elizabeth!
My sister and I have the same middle name – Lynn. How late 1970s, huh? I hated it growing up and wished my parents would have given me something unique. However, now that we’re both married and changed our last names, it’s nice to still have a common name link. Honestly, I’m not going to do this for my children but I’ve come to see positive side and if it’s something that you want, it’s really okay :)