an earlier post<\/a>, you suggested Callum and Liam for twin boys\u2019 names, and I\u2019m wondering if you could please poll your readers to get their opinion on whether Callum and Liam sound too similar in a sibling set. Your opinion, of course, is much appreciated as well! Other first names under serious consideration are Andrew and Aiden (very popular in our region); the middle name is undecided but of less concern. Our naming guidelines are:<\/p>\n\u00b7 No beginning or ending in B<\/p>\n
\u00b7 No names that are things (our surname is a thing)<\/p>\n
\u00b7 No two-syllable names that end in \u201cer\u201d (too sing-songy with our last name)<\/p>\n
We had planned to use Amelia for a girl, and we are undecided on whether we will have more children.<\/p>\n
If you choose to publish my question and need to use a substituted last name, I recommend \u201csounds like Miller with a B.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though I spend a lot of time lurking, I really appreciate your down-to-earth advice on naming and parenting in general!<\/p>\n
Thank you,<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nI think my vote is that Callum and Liam are a little too close, but not deal-breakingly close: that is, if you love both names and decide to use them, there are plenty of sibling sets where the names are a little more similar than would be ideal (or even quite a bit more similar than would be ideal) but it’s completely fine and not enough reason to give up a favorite name.<\/p>\n
A name I love with Callum is Declan. They share some sounds, so perhaps they too are too similar, but they sound more different to my ear.<\/p>\n
If you love Aidan but find it too popular in your area, I wonder if you’d like Aidric? I’m surprised it isn’t more common.<\/p>\n
Eamon would also fit very well. I recommend it second to Aidric because Aidric seemed easy to pronounce\/spell even the first time I heard of it, but I’ve had to learn that Eamon is AY-mon (as opposed to EE-mon) and I still have to think about it.<\/p>\n
I heard a little boy addressed as Garrett the other day, and it struck me that that’s another name I could stand to hear more often.<\/p>\n
Oh, Griffin! I like Griffin even more! Callum and Griffin; Cal and Finn! A griffin is sort of a thing, though. I say “sort of” because I”m not sure what percentage of the population is familiar with that (almost everyone? only certain segments?), and I also wonder if the name is established enough that the connection to the thing doesn’t spring readily to mind; and because I think of the thing as being spelled gryphon (because of, I think, ONE book I read with a gryphon in it).<\/p>\n
Well, if Griffin is out for thingness, I think I like Keegan even better anyway. It means two names starting with the same sound; would that make you feel stuck with a third child, if you had one? Callum and Keegan. I love that.<\/p>\n
Enough chit-chat; let’s have that poll about Callum\/Liam over to the right! [Poll closed; see results below.]<\/p>\n
Poll results for “What do you think of Callum and Liam as brother names?”<\/strong> (358 votes total):<\/p>\nToo similar to use – 94 votes (26%)
\nA little too similar, but fine to use – 158 votes (44%)
\nNot too similar – 99 votes (28%)
\nCan’t decide – 7 votes (2%)<\/p>\n
<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Name update!<\/b> Kimberly writes:<\/p>\nOur family proudly welcomed Keegan Andrew on May 3! We are smitten! Thank you for helping us name our chunky monkey (he was 9 lbs, 15 oz at birth)!<\/p>\n
![\"Keegan\"](\"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/Keegan.jpg\")
<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Kimberly writes: We are expecting our second child, another boy, in early May! Our older son\u2019s name is Callum Daniel. In an earlier post, you suggested Callum and Liam for twin boys\u2019 names, and I\u2019m wondering if you could please poll your readers to get their opinion on whether Callum and Liam sound too similar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-name-update"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-1wf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5843"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9619,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5843\/revisions\/9619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}