Dearest Swistle –
While my husband and I are *pretty* sure that the one baby is enough, I think about Theoretical Second Baby all the time.
And one of the things I think about, of course, is what TSB’s NAME would be.
When we named our daughter, we had three names that were Top Contenders. And one of those three still stands out to me as The Name That Got Away. Not that I don’t love my daughter’s name – oh no, I DO. Just that I would LOVE to name another daughter Name 2 from the Top Contenders list.
The thing is… If we WERE to have not just a second child but a second daughter, I think that Name 2 would be out of the running because it shares two syllables with my FIRST daughter’s name. And that’s what I wanted to email you about today, because I thought it might be fun.
At what point are names TOO SIMILAR to be sibling names?
Let’s say my daughter’s name is Gwendolyn, and that the Second Favorite name is Guinevere. Not quite true to life in terms of my own issue, but pretty close: The names begin with the same sound. The emphasis in both names is on that same sound. The nickname possibilities BOTH include that first syllable.
I mean, that to me seems like the biggest PROBLEM: the nicknames. Because even if at home you call the girls Dolly and Vera (or whatever), if their friends decide to call them each Gwen, you are in trouble. I suppose it’s unlikely that if you already had a sister going by Gwen that you’d ALSO agree to be called Gwen, but it’s still POSSIBLE. And this is a game of hypotheticals, after all.
But aside from that first syllable, the names are pretty different! So… are they different ENOUGH that they would work as a sibling set?
What if the names were Madeleine and Madison? Or Bridget and Britney? Or Elinore and Eloise? Or Luanne and Louise? Or Verdabelle and Veronica? Or Marilyn and Marianne? Or Isabella and Isadora?
I feel like there ARE some… boundaries. For instance, Susan and Suzanne seem MUCH too similar to work. Same goes for Mary and Maria, even though the first syllable of each is NOT quite the same. I guess in each case, they are variations on the same name. Maybe that’s the line of demarcation?
Is this all a matter of personal preference? Or are there some Naming Guidelines that can help in the decision making?
Just something I’ve been thinking about for, oh, ALMOST THREE YEARS. Perhaps it would be amusing to puzzle through with your readers.
Much love
I believe that yes, it boils down to personal preference. I am thinking of friends of my late mother-in-law, who deliberately named their daughters Sharon and Karen. Or a friend of a friend who has daughters Ella and Emma. Or of course there’s George Foreman, who named all five of his sons George. And then on the other end of the spectrum there are people who won’t even use two names that start with the same letter or have the same vowel sound.
I think you’re right that MOST people would would have drawn a line by the time we got to two names with the same nickname, or two names that were (or sounded as if they were) variations of the same name. I’ll bet too that most of us feel more strongly about repeated beginnings and rhyming endings than we do about repeated endings (non-rhyming) and rhyming beginnings. And there are other things that can make names feel more/too similar, such as looking similar (even if the sounds are different), or having the same number of syllables, or having the same beginning and ending letters. And of course there’d be exceptions all over the place, for every line we might draw!
Some issues feel like issues during the naming process, but turn out to be a big shrug afterward. For example, I have uncles Jim and Tim. I can imagine thinking rhyming nicknames made the names too close, but it doesn’t feel like a big deal at all now that it’s happened: just a mildly interesting similarity. I still might prefer not to do it with my own kids’ names, unless I loved the name too much to give it up.
I think love factors in very strongly. If you are still thinking of a name several years later, you may decide to go with the “No one REALLY CARES what anyone names their children” philosophy and/or the “Well, it’ll work out, one way or another!” philosophy, and just GO for it. Or you might end up thinking of it as a name you loved nearly as much as the name you used, but unfortunately you could only use one or the other. I have names like that on my list: for example, I love the names Wilson and William, but I was only going to use one or the other. I love Elizabeth and Eliza, but again, only wanted one to use one or the other; I love Edward and Edmund, same deal. Edward and Theodore, that’s more of a flexible area for me, even though both could be Ted. Elizabeth and Eleanor too: I suppose they could both want to use Ellie, but for whatever reason it doesn’t bother me.
Well! It’s a very interesting topic! I’d love to hear where everyone else draws lines, and about pairings that felt too similar or NOT too similar to use!
I think about this question all the time! I have 6 kids and am expecting a baby this coming summer. So many great names seem problematic. One of my son’s is named Mark and while Mary doesn’t sound the same it certainly looks visually very close. My husband thinks it’s totally usable, but Mark’s on record as officially opposed so I’m going to let it go. Boo! My two daughters are Clare and Katharine, and, while I think Caroline seems a bit too close to Clare, she thinks it’s a great choice for a sister. I’m torn on it because it’s such a great name and stylistically a great match, but the chances of me calling them Claroline seems pretty high.
Personally I don’t think Clare and Caroline are too similar. I get Carol from Caroline, and I do think Clare and Carol might end up being a tongue twister I double you would call her Carol anyway. It’s pretty safe to say we are all guilty of mixing up our children’s names at least once no matter how dissimilar they are!
I doubt you would call her Carol. :)
My nickname growing up was Carrie. Claire and Carrie or Claire and Caroline would be an OK match to me. My sister was Kathleen – Kathleen and Caroline (FTR mine is pronounced Carolyn but I feel my logic holds with CaroLINE, too). Yes, we sometimes were called “Caroleen” or “Kathlyn” but no more than my brothers, Tim and Will, were called “Car-Ti-William!!!!” or something like that.
My oldest two boys are Jose and Giovani – or Joey and Gio. It’s close. I don’t love how close it is now that we have a few years under our belts. They are often “Joe-i-o” or “Gi -oey.” Doesn’t bug them, though.
I would SO call them Claroline. Then again, I mix up Mary and Lucy, so I also feel that parental propensity to mix up is an important variable.
Gwendolyn and Guinevere are incredibly matchy. Lovely names, of course. If you ended up with a third girl, what would you name her? I feel like it’d be hard. (Welsh names seem to coordinate, like Winifred or Ceridwen, but I’d go for something like Meredith over something like Gwyneth!)
Susan / Suzanne and Mary / Maria are out, for me, because they’re variations on the same name. But I’m also not fond of Thomas & Tamsen as siblings, and almost nobody knows they’re variants on the same name.
Madeleine and Madison — I feel like you’d end up with a Claroline issue, as Laura put it above. But also, stylistically, they don’t match. Elegant, femme, French Madeleine contrasts pretty strongly with modern place-name Madison. The modern spelling of Madilyn and Madison would be hard to keep straight in my mind, because they share two syllables.
Bridget and Britney — I see no problem with it, actually, but as a Brigid who’s been called Brittany too many times, I have a personal grudge against this pairing.
Elinore and Eloise — like Bridget & Britney, I think this could work. Eleanor and Eloise are both old names, with long separate histories. And they only share one syllable.
Luanne and Louise — This is trickier. I think it’d be too close.
Verdabelle and Veronica — I don’t see a problem here. Though the name Verdabelle baffles me a little.
Marilyn and Marianne — I stress the names differently (MAR-i-lyn, Mar-i-ANNE) so I think this would be okay, especially once they’re grown up.
Isabella and Isadora — too close for me. Again, what would you name a third? Not because you’ll HAVE a third, I just think it’s a good metric for checking if they’re too close.
I know adult twins named Brendan and Brandon. One of them is married to a friend of mine, but lord knows I rarely remember what his name is, even though he couldn’t be more different in personality from his brother. They have another brother, named Brad.
It’s all WAY too much for me. But then, I’m pregnant with the second and vetoing all J names because my son is Julian. Also, my husband’s current favorite is Jack and the first syllable of his and the future baby’s last name is “Cas—-” so he’s out of luck if he thinks I’m naming any kid of mine what sounds like, Jackass *end half of last name* .
I knew a set of adult twins named Brian and Byron. it always seemed too close to me, especially since I consistently misread Byron as Bryon and thus pronounced it the same in my head!
to add to adult/male twin names:
Dante and Donte
which I think should technically be said exactly the same but they did Dan like “daniel” and don like “donald” with Tay on the end of each.
My twin aunts are Jean and Joan. Honestly didn’t notice the similarity until I was an adult!
Too close for me because I feel like if you have a limited number of children, why not get the most name-bang-for-your-buck and choose something different? If I only get two chances in life to give a baby a name, I want to spread the name love and go for some variety!
Interesting!! Personally, I think Gwendolyn and Guinevere would register to me as different names–and if both sisters wanted to be called “Gwen,” I’d think that was reasonable but not so obvious that I’d have assumed it (but that might be because I can’t imagine being named Guinevere and preferring Gwen, which would probably make lots of people assume my full name was Gwendolyn). Given the uniqueness of Guinevere and the stylistic differences between these two names, I’d call this a safe pair–but right on the borderline.
Same thing with Veronica and Verdabelle–that they share a few letters seems like little more than coincidence.
Same thing with Elinore and Eloise.
But when I hear Madison/Madeleine, or Marilyn/Marianne, my reaction is “Wow, the parents REALLY love the name they used first–so much so that they wish they could have just reused it.” I think it’s about the extreme similarities in sound and current trendiness. I’d assume they had given their top favorite name to the first child and then made a very tiny effort to differentiate the second name. In the Madison/Madeleine example, that would register to me as uncreative, and then both names would feel boring.
By contrast, even though Marcus and Marius share almost all their letters, those sound like completely different names, and I would not have the above reaction.
I’m sure that response fell somewhere on the unhelpfulness spectrum, but this is a fun topic to think about anyway!
The Gwendolyn I knew went by Wendy. So I feel like if there were sibs, I’d have “the Smith sisters, Wendy & Gwen” in my mind.
To me the deal killer is when its just variations of the same name. My daughter is May so that eliminates Mary and Margaret for me, but not Maxine (if I liked Maxine). But of course, not everyone is equally likely to spot variations on the same name (or agree on what counts). I’m sure some parent out there has daughters named Anne and Hannah, and I’d probably be ok with May and Rosemary together, because maybe they’re both nature names and not related for Mary at all.
Agree here. I’d add Ella and Elizabeth, or Betsy/Betty and Elizabeth, or other versions where one is a commonly used nickname name + the full version of the name, even if the nickname name is one often and commonly used on its own.
My aunts are named Mary and Rosemary, and I would never use this mix but it works for them? I guess? Now that they are grown ups, at least.
We have a similar issue as I daydream about naming theoretical baby number 2. We love the name Quinn, but it rhymes with our 3yo’s middle name, Wren. So I have a hard time actually picturing it on a child and I’m not sure it’s usable.
My personal line of demarcation: no variations on the same name, no rhyming first names, no obvious negative associations, no weird/unconventional spellings.
I doing think Quinn and Wren rhyme? Are you pronouncing Wren in a unique fashion?
I don’t say Quinn and Wren in a way that rhymes for what it’s worth. Plus, while you would notice it most people don’t use first and middle names in every day use, especially as the kids get older. I have a former coworker who has a daughter named Harper and they just named their second, a boy, “Firstname Porter”, and while I saw it and thought, wow, they must like those sounds, in reality after the kid is more than a couple months old they’ll just been known as Harper and “Firstname” (which doesn’t sound anything like Harper or Porter beyond the fact that it is also two syllables.)
Which is all to say, if you love Quinn use it! I will say my friend ended up using Quinn in the middle name spot and using that as what they called the baby because she found it hard to match up Quinn with a middle name where it didn’t sound like she was saying “Queen Middlename” – like, “Quinn Mary” would equal “Queen Mary” in her head.
They rhyme for me, too (from the South). I had to think a minute on how else Wren might be pronounced, lol. I don’t think it’s an issue at all though if one is a middle name.
My nephews have a similar situation (first born middle name is very similar to second born first name. Like 1 letter difference). While when I heard #2’s name I thought, wow that’s really close to #1’s middle name, I haven’t thought about it again. And I never say or hear their middle names day to day. I think this problem feels bigger when you are picking first and middle names and comparing to your first child’s first and middle than it actually is in real life. Go for Quinn :)
Commenting to say that I know twins Mary and Marie… Always thought it was weird they had basically the same name
Then even tho these are two completely different names, rhyming makes them seem so matchy – sisters Jamie & Amie
I would say that I personally fall on the extreme end of the spectrum of not wanting my children to share even a first initial. However, I do not expect others to feel that way and don’t have any negative thoughts when I meet a sibset where initials repeat.
My son is Noah and for a while my top choice for a second boy was Jonah but the longer I thought about Noah and Jonah, the more the two-syllable, contains an n, ends in ah similarities bothered me. I never had a second boy, but Jonah was off the list (replaced by Joshua) by the time I got pregnant with my daughter.
My friend Maura has sisters Laura and Mara. I’m still not 100% sure how the pronunciation of Mara and Maura is different…it’s always thrown me that they keep it straight! The sisters are adults and I only know one of them, but I’m not sure how they managed when they were young and all being introduced at once. Those parents really committed to a naming style!
It’s definitely a matter of personal preference, though. Some of the names you listed (like Bridget and Britney) don’t strike me as being too similar at all. Others make me pause. But if Maura/Mara/Laura could make it work, I’m sure your daughters could too.
I’m so confused by this! I always thought Mara and Maura were the same name with different spellings. Can anyone explain the difference?
I think Mara is pronounced “Mah-ra” and Maura is “More-ah”.
As a twin, I can’t stand when sibling names are “match-matchy”. We are separate people and deserve separate names. I guess it is personal preference, but if the names share two first syllables, that’s too close for my taste.
My line would be names people often confuse with other names. I have a daughter named Eleanor and she gets called Evelyn a lot, so I wouldn’t want one of each. (I also have an acquaintance who has an Evelyn and SHE get’s called Eleanor a lot.) Nicknames could help there, I suppose. We usually call my daughter Ellie and that seems to stick better in people’s heads, rather than being “a generic old lady name starting with E”. An Ellie and an Evie might work.
Also- I’m Jessica and have often gotten called Jennifer. I suppose both were so popular in the 80s there probably ARE siblings with those names, so I’d be very interested to hear if it was as much of a problem as I’d think. In my experience there are lots of people out there for whom those names are completely interchangeable.
I’m agreeing with April above when it comes to making my own children.
However, my sister’s name ends in the same ‘iona’ as mine – apparently my parents didn’t realise, as they just choose a name they liked. It seems daft they didn’t notice, but who cares, since both of us have lovely names and we spend most of our lives (that is, existence on earth) as individuals, rather than as a pair of sisters. The older the siblings become, the less they present to the euros add siblings, and the less the babe similarity will be observed.
Those people on Fixer Upper have Drake, Duke, Ella, and Emmy. Seems a little funny to me but whatever floats your boat. My grandma’s sisters (twins) were named Sarah Helen and Faye Ellen. Now that’s matchy.
But really, nobody cares that much about what others name their kids, like Swistle said. If you love it, do it.
Except those of us on this board :) I know someone who’s daughters are Hailey and Bailey. I haven’t interacted with this woman in years but I still think she’s batty for making that choice!
My grandmother was Doris and her sister, (born within the year) was Dorothy. I always thought that was a little odd and close.
For if the children would dislike it: it is a risk that they will feel like they don’t have special enough or different enough names, or that the other sister got the “better” version of Gwendolyn/Guinevere. Then again, they may love that they share something. Or they might feel both at different times of their life. I still have a lot of feelings about being “second best” in my family growing up, so that’s a very sensitive matter to me personally. So if my child ever came to me and said that they felt like I was just repeating the other child’s name and not seeing them as their own unique person, *I* would feel very very upset. So for me, risk outweighs the reward. But another parent might feel like the reward of getting to use the two best names in the world would outweigh some sibling rivalry. (Because there will always be that.)
Then, as I said above, the parent mixing up names also plays into it. If the parent is likely to always tongue twist, then very different names might be easier. Perhaps a rousing reading of Fox In Socks would be appropriate. ;)
I have great aunts that were named Belva and Beverly. I always thought those names were close and I figured their mom must have really liked the ‘B’ and ‘V’ sounds.
My grandma apparently thought that there was a chance that my Dad was a twin 66 years ago. He’s Dennis and if there had been a girl twin I’ve always been told it would have been Denise. I have a hard time believing that, but that’s what they tell me ;) That’s far too close!
I think the “and then what would you do if you had a third child?” question is a good one for figuring out if names are too match-y.
I used to baby-sit for a family who had a Nicholas and Nicole, which I thought was weird (and they weren’t twins, the boy was older). And then a few years later their little brother came along and he was named Luke. Nicholas, Nicole, and Luke. To me it always felt like the third baby must have been an accident, or at least an afterthought.
I pondered the too close question myself when wondering if I could name my second baby Julian when my first is Sebastian. Would I feel trapped into having to come up with another -ian ending for a third boy? My second ended up being a girl and her name sounds nothing at all like Sebastian, so now if I did have a third and it was a boy I feel like I could maybe use Julian, as I don’t think it would be as weird to have boys with similar endings and a girl with a different one.. So that might make a difference, too. If it was Gwendolyn, Guinevere, and James then I would think “Girl style, boy style” and not be bothered much, but if it was Gwendolyn, Guinevere, and Kate, that would seem strange.
Yes! I feel absolutely the same way.
If there is one odd one and kind of younger — always “accident??” even though I know that isn’t necessarily at all true!
and boy vs. girl style can make things work that I otherwise don’t think works.
I agree that putting some space between the similar names (when possible) can let you get away with using some that otherwise people might find too similar – so in your case, Sebastian, Girl, and Julian kind of dilutes the similarity that bothers you about Sebastian and Julian. (And for the record, the way I pronounce Sebastian, the “-stian” almost comes out as one syllable – suh-BASS-chen, kind of – whereas the way I pronounce Julian, the “-ian” ending is much more drawn out, so they don’t sound alike at all, though I guess this could vary by accent.)
I’ve always wondered about this topic, too..
My hypothetical first daughter would be named Elizabeth Katherine. Mainly called Elizabeth, but if I had to pick a nn Ellie wins. Hypothetical third son would be Elliott Marshall…sharing my initials. Elizabeth and Elliott start to tread too close, but Ellie and Elliott…no way! (Also do you always say your kids names in birth order? Because that could make a difference how noticeable…)
After hypothetical Elizabeth…girl’s names have always been a struggle, while I have hypothetical boy’s names out my ears.
But my husband’s suggestion is Amelia, which I could agree to, but I’ve always said it’s to close to Emily. However, my new gp is Emmeline. It wouldn’t bother me to name a daughter after me…but I think they’re too close. Plus, she’d be Elizabeth’s sister. So many great E names…
For me, I think the issue boils down to “how would I feel to be the younger sibling?” In the case of Guinevere & Gwendolyn, I’d be pretty ticked to be the younger sister. At that point, it seems like my parents got lazy or uninspired when picking my name. Kids want their own identity and having a name that is mostly the same as an older sibling would cause issues for a lot of kids. For me, most of the OP’s examples fall into this category. So similar it seems like the parents weren’t even trying anymore.
It wouldn’t be too difficult to do slight variations on most of these combinations that would give the same general feel but still be more distinct. Gwendolyn & Genevieve is much better. Madeline & Addison are still very close (Maddy/Addy) but still an improvement. Bridget & Ashley? Louise & Eleanor? Luanne & Eloise? Idabell & Veronica? Evelyn & Marianne or Marilyn & Susanne? Isabella & Theodora or Annabel and Isadora? All of these combinations seem at least marginally better to me, and it only took me a minute to come up with alternate suggestions.
Susan/Suzanne and Mary/Maria are even worse because they literally are variants of the same name. The only possible exception I might see would be families who re-use Mary for religious reasons. I’ve known several families with sisters who shared Mary Grace/Mary Elizabeth/Mary Katherine/Mary Claire type names. But the call names in these families were usually the middle names, so maybe it’s not the same thing as Mary/Maria after all.
The Jim/Tim example Swistle gave is less of an issue for me because the given names were (I assume) James and Timothy. Each given name is distinct and while the nicknames rhyme, they don’t sound exactly the same like the Guin/Gwen example. I’d avoid similar sounding nicknames, but wouldn’t think much about it in someone else’s family. And it doesn’t seem like the type of thing that would cause a kid much angst.
I have a daughter Bliss and am pregnant with another girl but struggling with names. One I do like is Blythe, but wonder if this is too close…
I think it is too close in the ‘what do you do for hypothetical kid #3’ issue, especially if it is a girl. (says mom of two kids with Br names, followed by an M name kid because i ran out of B names that I loved)
I’m gonna say I love the names Bliss and Blythe together! What about Brynn or Bree if they are too close? I’m in the same boat I my son is Anson. And if my baby due in May is a girl I’m loving Afton! Anson and Afton are feeling too similar!
The thing that strikes me about Bliss and Blythe is that, aside from the shared letters, they’re both descriptive-emotion names, if that makes sense. Bliss meaning great joy and Blithe (Blythe) describing a person who is happy. I kind of love that connection, and the similar letters begin to seem more like a function than a bug.
For the hypothetical third I’d want to find something that fits, meaning-wise too. For me, Bliss, Blythe, and Blossom is a little too much, but Bliss, Blythe, and Felicity works. You’ve also got Joy, Sunny, and Serene as sister names.
This makes me laugh a bit, because I still have an email I wrote to you, Swistle, saved in my drafts – now never to be sent – from when I was pregnant over six months ago. I had wondered what you might think about the name Elodie if I had a girl (I did), considering that I already have a daughter named Eloise…
Clearly I wasn’t thinking straight. They’re only one letter different. They share exactly the same two first syllables… But a little bit of me still wonders if they’re different ENOUGH…!
I wasn’t brave enough, but I don’t think I’d bat an eyelid if someone else was!
This would never be an issue I would face because I love so many names. I do like both Gwendolyn and Guinevere so I might start with one of those. But I also love Josephine, Meredith, Catherine, Francesca, etc, etc so I would not go back to such a similar name.
That said, looking at the issue from the perspective asked, it should be thought of from what the impact on the children might be. I have an older sister and spent my childhood trying to alternately emulate and distinguish myself from her. Her name is Lisa and we both would hated it if I was named Liza or Lila or Elise. It might not matter as adults but I think it would have impacted both our psyches growing up. Maybe it would be different if we further apart in age or there were several other kids in between but I still don’t think I would have felt very special.
Using this test, I wouldn’t use Madeline and Madison, Luanne and Louise, Elinore and Eloise, Marilyn and Marianne, Verdabell and Veronica, or Isabella and Isadora. Bridget and Britney are iffy…. I would prefer Bridget and Beatrice or Britney and Bethany.
That said, I think the same first initial can work well for building a family “identity” if one isn’t planning an extensively large family (like the Duggars) and the names are sufficiently unique. I know a family where the kids were names Ephraim, Emily, Ethan, and Eliza. I see no problems with that. So sisters Gwendolyn and Georgia or Gwendolyn and Gillian work for me while sisters Gwendolyn and Guinevere don’t.
I have also known families where the first name is repeated but middle names were really what they were called. This was along the lines of John Thomas, John Raymond, and John Anthony called John, Ray, and Tony or Mary Elizabeth, Mary Margaret, and Mary Frances called Beth, Meg, and Fran. While I think is okay from a child being unique perspective, I personqlly wouldn’t do this.
I also think I
I also think that it is normal for people who love names to “mourn” the ones they didn’t get to use. We spend hours of thinking of beautiful, meaningful names and usually have a list that exceeds are capacity to use them. It is like being in a bakery filled with incredible looking pastries knowing we can only pick one or two or maybe a few. Even if we love the ones we do buy, we can’t help but wonder how the others would have tasted.
This bakery analogy is awesome.
On a funny note… my highschool spanish teacher had Zachary, Zane, Zebulon, Zandrew, Zerek, and Molly. (Molly was adopted and, if I remember the story right, they didn’t want her to have the trauma of a name change.) Obviously that was all on purpose and very amusing to say the least.
For me personally, I had always loved the name Ethan but after naming out first “Aaron,” I feel that “Ethan” and ‘Aaron” would be a mouthful. Already, I get “Aaron” and “Adam” (my husband) confused all the time!
…Zandrew? For me, the point at which I was seriously considering that would probably be a sign that it’s time to drop the initial requirement!
What about names that are the same in different cultures, but sound different? I’m thinking along the lines of John, Sean, Ian, Ivan, etc. John and Sean seem too similar to me (not to mention the clothing brand…) but what about Ian and John? Does it help if John went by a nickname such as Jack?
I know a family who named their three boys: Ethan, Ian, and Aiden. Even those these names all start with a different vowel, they all sound like the same name to me.
Also I forgot to add that these three boys (Ethan, Ian and Aiden) have 2 boy cousins named Seth and Smythe (pronoucned like Smith). So apparently this extended family doesn’t mind names that sound alike.
My unbreakable rule is “everyone gets their own name,” and that extends to beginning syllables. Gwendolyn/Guinevere and Madilyn/Madison make me shudder, although Elizabeth and Eleanor don’t.
My oldest is a Gwendolyn, and her name knocked two of my boy favorites right out of the water: Gregory because of the initial, and Benjamin because of the rhyme (my husban’s name is Jim, and that is plenty of rhyme in one family, thank you.) My youngest is Julie, and truth to tell, I do wish she had her own initial. But her name was so perfect otherwise, we just used it, and love it.
I have 4 kids, boy girl boy girl. Timothy (Timmy), Ellen (Ellie), Theodore (Teddy) and Emma. So the names we call them every day are pretty similar for the boys and for the girls. We didn’t intentionally match them but just picked the names we liked most. We sometimes mix up their names but I honestly don’t think it’s because they sound similar and it isn’t a big deal to us. While I wouldn’t use Mary and Maria or Brandon and Brendan or Jaden and Kaden, I think names like those of my kids aren’t something to avoid.
I know elementary school age twins named Kaitlyn and Kathleen. Variations of the same name (and in Irish, pronounced the same way), but one is way more dated than the other.
I know a family who has a Braden (oldest), Aiden & Hayden (twins) then named their 4th & final son Bentley. I think the first three having rhyming names was a little crazy but thought they’d add a Jayden or something that rhymed for baby #4 lol but to each their own
I’ve debated this, too. Like the name Isaiah but not with an Ezra. And Isaiah rules out a future Isaac. At least in my book.
And I do have to say that I knew a family of Talitha, Tabitha and Tamitha growing up. For real!
I prefer a separate initial for each child, or at least a separate first syllable. However, I have many friends that prefer a certain sound/style and stick to it. I have come across sib-sets like these, which I find too close for comfort:
Andrew (Andy) & Anna (Annie)
Alana, Alara & Alyssa (for some reason, these don’t bother me as much)
Parker & Tanner
Sarah & Cyrus (Cy)
I think the “what would you name a third?” rule is a really good one. A friend of mine named their 2 kids with the same initial on purpose. Then, her sister thought it would be cute to name her 2 kids with the same first initial, too. One happy accident later, and they couldn’t find another name that they liked and wasn’t too similar to the first 2 or the cousins with that initial, so baby #3 is the only cousin with their own initial.
I forgot my favorite example of “too much”. I have a friend whose parents loved her and her older sister’s names so much, they decided to mash them up to make her younger sister’s name, e.g. Sarah, Michelle and Sarelle. I have always felt so bad for the youngest not having her own identity.
I know two families that IMHO went too far… both coincidentally have all girls!
Three daughters: Martha, Marsha, and Marla. The mother’s name is Marta.
Three daughters: Kinley, Kailey, and Kylie. The mother’s name is Kimberly.
I think it’s ridiculous that all the names are so rhyming and have only one or two different letters. I read once that someone gave each child a distinct initial from their siblings so everyone’s “labels” on belongings would be easy to differentiate. For example, Elliot Smith – ES. Sarah Smith – SS. No one’s initials are the same, so everyone has their own monogram :)
This is so interesting! I love all the sibling name stories thrown out. It reminds me of college friends, roommates 3yrs & then after- Abi & Abby. Not siblings but lived together. I was friends with Abi. When you called their room/apt (before we all had cell phones attached to us) I always would spell Abi’s name when leaving my message bc I didn’t know what to do!
“Hi Abi, A.B.I.”
I feel it might be a smidge late in the game to reply to this, but I’ve thought of two sibling couplings that are just wayyyy too similar for my own taste. It’s been eating at me, so I felt I must reply!
I know an Alexis, who has a brother Alex.
And — I also know two young sisters named Zareena and Sarina.
The sisters’ names drive me absolutely nutty — I can’t remember which is which!
I’m so glad this question was submitted. I’ve wondered the same. We have a Juniper who we often call June. Naming her that seems to have removed two of our top boy names from the running–Jude and Jasper. Jude and June are way too similar and could easily be mistaken for the same name. Jasper and juniper share beginning and endings. I don’t love matchup sibling names. My husbands family has three boys all starting with j. It just seems like too much. I’ve also wondered about names that share too much of a theme. Our finalists were Juniper and Ivy. I wonder if two nature/plant names is too much. Ivy feels like the one that might have gotten away even though I love Junipers name.
A little late to this thread…but I’ve been thinking of names for our hypothetical third child. We have Patrick (Paddy) and Isla….I LOVE Isobel, but i’m concerned that it is too similar to Isla – Isla and Isobel?? I prefer the nn Issy (as opposed to belle). I suppose the husband will have an opinion when/if we ever have the third!
I love this thread and want to revive it!
So interesting. After making fun of people who clearly preference name sounds and styles my whole life – I find myself maybe about to commit the same sin :P (That’ll teach me).
So my friend’s step sister’s are Brianna and Tamara (long ‘aah’ sound) and then one of them had two daughters – Amia and Amica (which to me are pretty much exactly the same).
My half sister and I both had two syllable short names with a hard ‘o’ sound in the middle.
Now I have my daughter Indigo (nn Gogo or Indi) and I love her name so much. But most of my runner up favourites are “I’ names too – Isadora or Isabel (nn Izzy), and Imogen (nn Immy). Can I have an Indi and Immy? Or an Indi and Izzy?
I suppose Isabel and Isadora could be Bell/a or Dora but I don’t like those nn as much.
I love the names Mila, Mia and Maja (Maya) in that order. And would probably go with it if I end up having 4 girls. After Mila, my next choice is Diana.
Omg we have a Mila and looking at calling our 3rd Mia. I’m a bit worried they sound similar but we love the name Mia and can’t think of another girls name we love. Our eldest name starts and ends in A so they all flow but the eldest is obviously not as close to the other names. What did you end up doing?
Addit – we pronounce Milla as “Miller” rather than “Meelah” so not as close to Mia but still pretty similar.