When we decided to call our daughter Clio, we forever closed the door on another favorite name – Theodore, nickname Theo.
Or did we?
For every family that decides Maya and Milo are too similar, another embraces the sound-alike names. Or insists that Alicia and Alina are totally different names. Perhaps it never even occurs to them that Joanna and Jackson are both related to John. Or maybe the first time you think of the famous actress is when you introduce your daughter Grace, little sister to Kelly and others ask if you’re a fan.
Siblings’ names will be said together countless times. The names we like often have much in common. So how can you tell if your choices make for a compatible sibset, or if they’re much too close? Here are ten factors to consider.
10. The names share the same meaning. This can be a subtle way to link siblings’ names. Think Lucy and Claire. One means light; the other, clear. Felix and Asher both mean happy.
Trouble comes when your family of two ends up a family of four or five or more. Your first two are the nicely paired Hazel and Ivy, but after using Olive and Jade, your choices for #5 narrow to Loden, Fern and Moss.
9. The names share the same origins. Name aficionados know that Jacob and James are related. I’ve groused that naming your twin daughters Isabella and Elizabeth is like naming them Mary Anne and Marianne. Except that it’s not really so.
Origins aside, Jack and Sean make for a compatible pair of brothers’ names. And Charles and Caroline seem different enough to be worn without incident. Daniel and Danielle, however, don’t work.
8. You’ve neglected 25 letters of the alphabet. Sometimes this is unintentional. You’re naming your sons after their grandfathers – Michael and Matthew. Or you just happen to like the names Julia and Jason.
But let’s say you choose a letter with fewer options. I remember hearing about a family with four sons – Henry, Heath, Hugo and Hatrick. Are they hockey fans, or was Harvey not their style? And if you’re on the second generation sharing the same syllable, your options might be very limited.
7. The names are linked in history or pop culture. If the movie was a bust, or we’re talking minor comic book characters, this matters not at all. (You can safely ignore “But Sami named her twins John and Alice on Days of Our Lives.”) Some combinations might appeal – think of daughters named for two Jane Austen heroines, as in Emma and Elinor.
But then there’s Gillian Anderson’s threesome – Piper, Oscar and Felix. Her kids might not know The Odd Couple, but it is hard to imagine that it didn’t occur to mom. Or the truly unthinkable – siblings named Romeo and Juliet, or even, in our Twilight era, Edward and Bella. (Though it can happen after the fact – in which case, all you can do is laugh.)
6. Your choices can lead to same nickname. Sure, you never intend to call Kathryn or Katelyn by the nickname Katie. But it could easily happen. And how will their sister Annie feel about having an unrelated name?
This usually occurs because of #9 or #3. But not always – Amelia and Marianna could both shorten to Mia. Alexander and Natasha could both go by Sasha. The harder you have to think about it, the less it becomes a concern.
5. Your favorites share the same ending. If you like Isabel, you might also like Annabel. Ditto names like Parker, Carter and Harper. But sharing the same ending is another sign that your favorites might be too close for comfort.
4. They nest like a Russian matryoshka. Does one name fit neatly inside the other? Annika and Julian share an “an” but it isn’t glaringly obvious.
But Ella and Kellen seem like too much of a set. And, in cases like Anna and Susanna, it feels as if one sibling’s name is just an elaboration, rather than an original choice.
3. They share the same first syllable. With #10 through #4, it is easy enough to come up with examples that work, despite being close in some ways.
But #3 takes us deep into the danger zone – can you imagine sisters called Madeline and Madison or Allison and Alexis? (Photoquilty knows of a Madeline/Madison set – plus the dog answers to Maddie!) How ’bout Jordan and Georgia? A Supernanny episode featured twin girls Maile and Maila – pronounced Miley and Myla.
2. The names rhyme. Yes, there have surely been twin sisters called Cara and Tara. But most parents – and siblings – would find it a bit too matched.
And yet, this is trickier than it sounds. Timothy and James, Jeffrey and Stephanie and, of course, Benjamin and Jennifer all end up rhyming if you use the most common diminutives.
1. A combination of the above. Jackson and Jonathan are close, but probably on the right side of the line, while Jack and John don’t pass the test.
Jeffrey and Stephanie seem less troubling than the Hollywood power couple Benjamin and Jennifer.
Sarah and Laura are pretty close, but Laura and Maura would work only on fictional characters.
And so I’d love to know: what choices have you had to reject because they’re just too close to your an older child’s name?
Filed under: Articles | 57 Comments
Tags: Alexander, Alexis, Alice, Allison, Amelia, Anna, Annabel, Annie, Annika, Asher, Bella, Benjamin, Cara, Caroline, Carter, Charles, Claire, Clio, Daniel, Danielle, Edward, Elinor, Elizabeth, Ella, Emma, Felix, Fern, Georgia, Grace, Harper, Harvey, Hatrick, Hazel, Heath, Henry, Hugo, Isabel, Isabella, Ivy, Jack, Jackson, Jacob, Jade, James, Jason, Jeffrey, Jennifer, Joanna, John, Jonathan, Jordan, Julia, Julian, Juliet, Katelyn, Kathryn, Katie, Kellen, Kelly, Laura, Loden, Lucy, Maddie, Madeline, Madison, Maila, Maile, Marianna, Marianne, Mary Anne, Matthew, Maura, Maya, Mia, Michael, Miley, Milo, Moss, Myla, Natasha, Olive, Oscar, Parker, Piper, Romeo, Sarah, Sasha, Sean, Stephanie, Susanna, Tara, Theo, Theodore, Timothy
-
Recent Comments
Bek on 3 Things I’ve Learned Ab… Panya on 3 Things I’ve Learned Ab… youcantcallitit on 3 Things I’ve Learned Ab… fran on 3 Things I’ve Learned Ab… appellationmountain on 3 Things I’ve Learned Ab…
I haven’t had to reject any based on your list, but aside from Madeline and Madison (plus dog Maddie, and did I mention Madeline is pronounced MAD-a-lyn, so the sisters’ names basically rhyme, too?) I grew up with Timmy and Tommy. I also have a friend who named her first son Parker and her second son Charlie, and when I asked if she was a jazz fan, she had no idea what I was talking about.
I know a group of sisters, Amanda, Miranda, and Samantha – and meet mom, Sandra. (Okay, I’ll let this out of the bag: one of those girls is mommy to Madeline and Madison.) I know someone who named her sons Bryson and Brady (maybe Brody, can’t ever recall) and I never remember which one is which. They’re about a year apart in age. But those are close names. There’s also the set of names that are just too distinct: sisters Sarah and Morgan, for example. Sarah, a classic princessy name, and Morgan, a boy’s name. Hm. One could argue Morgan Le Fay was a woman, but still…
Interesting post, as usual!
My daughter is Joanna, which eliminates Susannah; otherwise I’d've liked to use that to honor my sister, Susan.
We call my daughter Josie, and my son’s name ends with -en. Mash the two together and you sort of get Justin, which is another name I like that’s now out of the question.
Our daughter is Juliette — so we’ve ruled out Violet, Charlotte, Annette, etc., and of course — Romeo!
I am so frustrated. My son’s name is Titus. My absolute favorite name for another boy is Jude. However, I CANNOT have a Titus and a Jude. Then we are just the offbeat book-of-the-Bible name family. But what about Titus and Juliet for a girl? Yes, I know Juliet is a sad sad character, but it is a lovely name. However is that too much of a Roman emperor reference for one family?
Haha! Kelleita we posted at the same time! I’m not copying you I promise! We do love the name Juliet with any spelling. It’s on the very short list of girl names along with Genevieve and Vivienne (or Vivian).
Note to Sara: I worked with a Genevieve…the Americans pronounced it Jen-eh-veev, but the Canadians called her Jen-vee-ev. I do love Vivienne…beautiful name for a baby or adult.
My daughter is Phoebe, which rules out my newly-adored Daphne, and also Penelope, which my husband likes. Also, my husband recently suggested the nn Effie after his grandmother. I DETEST than name, and wriggled out of it by saying that the FEE-be and Ef-FEE sound too close to me. We are, however, considering Helena, which shares both Greek origin and the meaning “bright” with Phoebe.
The closest we have come is deciding that, along with some other reasons, Isaac was not doable with Imogen based on the two being “I” names. To be honest, having two I names was not the biggest factor (since we’re not going for lots of kids – two will do), but paired with some other things that weren’t quite right (an Immy and an Izzy? and the other Isaac nn we considered is Zac, and my brother is a Zachary – and it just felt ‘off’), Isaac was eliminated. Had Imogen been an Isla or Iona, with a long “eye” sound similar to Isaac, the two Is would have been more off-putting.
Just have to mention this – yesterday I saw on Dr Oz a trio of 30-something sisters: big sis Poppy, and twin little sisters Lovey and Dovey. #2, #5, and #7.
Lovey and Dovey?! Yikes!
Wow, I have thoughts on just about all of these. What a fun post for us name nerds
First of all, re: #2, I know a family with a James and a Timothy *and* a Jennifer and a Benjamin! Jim, Tim, Jen, Ben.,.. and Josie
Fortunately at least James goes by his full name. Somebody just didn’t do the math there!
Re: #4, I know sibs Caleb and Michaela, but Michaela went by Mia, so the repeating “Cale” wasn’t obvious. Likewise, my own first two girls share an “il”. Nice, right? But since our Philippa is almost exclusively Pippa, it’s not a biggie
Re:#7, we have friends who have a little Oscar (and big sister Tabitha) and say they will use Felix if they ever have another boy. Now they’d not only be referencing the Odd Couple, but they’d be stealing Gillian Anderson’s combo, too! They live in the UK, where both are less likely to be noticed, I guess.
Now, to what we’ve had to rule out: it’s a long, sad list! Felicity: too close to Philippa. Felix: same ending as Beatrix. Cecily: same ending as Romilly. Barnaby ( the *only* boys’ name we both love!): shares initial with Beatrix. There were serious negotiations during my last pregnancy as to how important that rule is. We would love to have more children, and the no-sharing-initials rule is becoming very prohibitive, but we’ve decided for the time being that, yes, we really are that anal. The rule stands. Sigh…
Also, we have toyed with Quincy if #5 is a boy. Are Quincy and June (Juniper) in the same family too Little Einsteins or will no one notice?
I like Quincy quite a bit, and I think he fits right in with your other kids’ names. As for Quincy and June, I don’t know … if her birth certificate read June, I might hesitate. (Shade of JLo’s Emme and Max from DragonTales.) But since her full name is Juniper, I think a) it is different; b) it remains a fairly obscure reference that no one is likely to remember into adulthood.
I love that you used Philippa with nn Pippa. I’ve been in love with it for a while, but no one else seems to understand what I love about it. It’s a beautiful name.
Ummm… I’m guilty. Not only did it never, ever not once occur to me that “Scarlett” and “Skylar” (my stepdaughter who we have every other weekend) are extremely similar in sound, now we are naming our second daughter another “S” name. When we first started discussing names, I was adamant that we would not use an “S” name… and then I fell in love with one and couldn’t like anything else. Then the middle name hubby came up with starts with the same letter as Scarlett’s first middle name, so they almost have the same initials. But the middle honors family members on both sides, and it was so sweet of him to think of it that I felt I could hardly argue. **sigh** Maybe I should get my tubes tied after this one. Just to prevent a Duggar-like disaster.
Then again, Scarlett, we often think that Clio should’ve been Anya – we’re Abby, Arthur, Alex/Alexei/Aly and … Clio.
It’s just as weird to be left out.
At the time, we wanted to honor my mom, and we thought we might have another child – and we REALLY didn’t want to be locked into all As …
Some days, I think we missed out on family unity, even though it can be a bit much.
How odd, my parents are called Andrew and Anya, they called my brother Alex and me Caroline!
There’s a whole question here though about planning- of course when you have a baby boy you have no idea whether you will in future have a girl, another boy, twins or nothing at all! So even the most name-obsessed of us must have our grand schemes scuppered…
Has anyone else regretted holding out on a name, and not giving it as a middle to their first child in case they had another of the same gender- and then they never did?
Now that is the kind of coincidence that makes me hear the theme from the Twilight Zone, Sugar!
And I love your phrase “our grand schemes scuppered” – so true.
My mothers siblings are named Michelle and Michael, strangely her name is Amanda.
Mine and my siblings names: Natalie, Michaela, Nicole and Connor.
Mine and Nicole’s names are really too similar, plus my mum made the mistake of giving us both a J middle name. Now when a letter comes to N.J.M, we have no idea whose it is.
The names I like for future children are not similar apart from the floral/nature theme running through my girls names list. Daphne, Ivy and Olive being a sample of such.
Interesting post
I know brothers Zachary and Isaac. I always thought was a bit close. Though I guess Zachary goes by his full name, so it’s not Zach and Isaac.
Our daughter is Rose. When I was thinking about boy names for our second child, I liked Ezra. Then I realized it was very similar – 4 letters, the same sounds, just backwards.
I didn’t realize until after we’d picked “Henry”, that we now are Ben, Jen(nie) and Hen(ry) (plus Rose.) I guess part of me liking “Henry” was that it shares part of my name and I’ve always liked my husband’s name Benjamin (way before we ever met.) So I must have a thing for the -en sound.
Pamela Redmond Satran – one of the Namberry duo – has written that her three kids are Rory, Joseph and Owen – Ro, Joe and O! I do think we tend to favor the same sounds over and over again and not even know it.
Well, there’s mismatchees galore in my family: Primrose, Annabeth & Thomas come to mind instantly. My mother and her only full brother, too: Stanislaw & Francesca. Yep.
I think I did pretty good with mine: Leo, Simon & Josephine/Josie. But then, I dislike repeating intials (nevermind I share one with Leo) but other than that, I just seem to be drawn to names that feel similar (ignore my undying love for Jemima, please).
My biggest peeve is #8. I hate the narrow mindedness of it. There are 26 letters, use the spread, folks! It’s the reason I keep waffling on Jemima. I gave up Ottoline for Ottilie, I don’t want to give up Jemima/Mimi!
I used to nanny for a Phoebe and a Chloe, which I thought were too close.
My husband and I were strongly considering Celeste before we decided it was really too similar to our favourite boys’ name, Cedric. Should we end up with another girl in the future we may go with Celeste and forever wave goodbye to Cedric. If I could get Mark to join my fascination with the similar-ending Alaric, that would be fine, but so far I haven’t had any luck getting him to realise what a wonderful name it is.
Now that I have a Roseanna, I can never have another daughter whose name ends with an “a” sound, which narrows my options down considerably. Yes, I have an arbitrary rule that none of my kids’ names can end with the same sound!
(I do think that Cedric and Celeste are acceptable for twins, as would be Verity/Clemence or Felicity/Clemence, but not Verity/Felicity.)
I forgot to say something that I’d thought off while initially reading this (marvelous) post. That is that I know a family with parents named Adam and Anita and children Gia, Grace, and Reuben. I think their names match quite well meaning-wise.
A couple I know have boys named Brasen and Barron. If that wasn’t confusing enough, the two little boys are only 11 months apart in age, so they look almost like twins! Apparently the parents chose those names in an endeavour to match their children’s name meanings with the meanings of their own names.
Charlotte Vera, I know just what you mean about two names not having the same ending! I am going to be a nightmare to my future partner; no repetition of initials, no repetition of ‘sounds’, all names must have different amounts of syllables, etc! However, I’ve always though I might just have one child, so maybe it won’t matter anyway!
Since someone mentioned the Duggars upthread, thought I’d share my thoughts. I’m disappointed, I’d hoped for a Josephine, Julia or Julie. They now have a Joseph, Josiah and a Josie. (I know that it would have been worse to have a Josephine but it’s such a nice name I was willing to overlook it! Besides, they obviously don’t care about repetition *COUGH Jeremiah and Jedidiah COUGH*)
Okay, I’m feeling guilty. Thinking of Michelle and poor micro-preemie Josie Brooklyn!
My name is Eva (pronounced EE-vuh). My younger brother is named Eric. It has never bothered me that our names start with the same letter. My parents didn’t name my brother Eric because it started with an E to match my name, they named him Eric because they loved the name.
Eva, I think that’s very often the case – and Eva and Eric are quite different. The first initial thing isn’t a dealbreaker – especially not with two kids. It’s just one of those sticky issues. If your parents had a third child, would they have felt obligated to use Ezra or Elliot or Elena?
With James almost a year old (eek!) we’re talking about, talking about number two in the next year or so. We were talking family names we both like, and realized we both love my MIL’s middle name, Jane. I immediately was bummed we’d used James. I liked the name, but I love Jane, and she’s a family name over James not being one, and James also nixes Adam and Dean to me. Kevin, of course, doesn’t see the problem with having James and Jane. *eyeroll*. Oh well, if we had a girl, we have it narrowed down to Caroline or Daphne. Don’t even ask me about boy names. I guess we just can’t have a boy, because Kevin wouldn’t sign a birth certificate with any name I like!
Definitely can’t go with Jane! However, Caroline Jane is simply classic. Go for it. You need to have a girl because that name is gorgeous.
Also, your kids will match a little: J-ames K-enneth and C-arolineJ-ane (reversed sounds, right?)
Ah, but I really really want the middle name of a girl to be Margaret, after my sister, mom, and grandmother (Amelia Margaret, Margo Lee, and Margaret Isobella, respectively). Kenneth is a huge family name for Kevin, so I want to do the same for our side of the family. We didn’t hyphenate last names or anything, so I want the middle name of the next baby to be more reflective of our side of the family. It’s a bummer, because I love love love the sound of Daphne Jane. I never even considered the slightly matchy aspect of James Kenneth and Caroline Jane, but I really like that!
Well, I just don’t know what I’ll do if you don’t let me name your hypothetical daughter.
My Dad’s name is James and his sisters name is Jane (goes by Janey as well). They never had a problem with it. But then again, my Dad went my Jim/Jimmy, so they sound less similar like that.
Our guy is almost exclusively James, sometimes Jamey. I just don’t like Jim/Jimmy, sorry to your dad. It just wouldn’t work for us, but it’s nice to know that there are people out there it worked out for!
LOL, Kayt – I know EXACTLY how you feel about a second boys’ name. I love Daphne and (obviously) Caroline, too. Jane and James does seem awfully matchy, though. Too bad!
And wow, is James almost a year!? Time flies!
On Saturday the 19th. I cried when I sent out his first birthday invites!
As much as I cringe at the trenderrfic and contrived Kyson and Karson, Kayleigh and Kyleigh, Jayden and Jayda sibsets, I’d seriously consider Isla and Ivy or Isla and Isemay (although I don’t like the similarity to Esme). I’m a hypocrite.
I’d also like to throw Blithe in as a middle and as we regularly call our daughter by her first middle, Bonnie, Blithe and Bonnie is as twee and pea-podded as it gets, folks. *slaps own face*
And I have considered Hamish as a middle once already having used James and I know some name enthusiasts like to get out their redundancy whacking clubs for such transgressions.
Yes … but I do think that there are plenty of sibs out there named Elisabeth and Isobel, so James and Hamish in the middle? Not a big deal. And I love Blithe!
I’ve got Isla, Iris, Ivy, and Ian on my shortlist. It doesn’t bother me, I love the names. If people have problems with the fact that I’ve got all these ‘I’ names, they need some help. And this is coming from a name nerd
But Isla, Iris, and Ivy all match, and Ian will be left out in the cold.
Oh I love this topic.
I know two sibsets: Daniel and Danielle, Kyle and Kylene. I could never understand it.
#5 always trips me up. My daughters are Josephine and Genevieve. Evangeline, Clementine, Vivienne are all on the long list for another girl but I doubt I could actually use any of them because of the similarities (-ine endings) and potential overlap of nns (Vivi, Evie). Josiah is another name that I love, but won’t use because of the similarity to Josephine.
My siblings and I thought ended in different sounds but my sisters end the same I just realised! We all have our own initial though.
Anna, Katherine, Matthew, Connor & Erin.
Haha, Anna, your family fared far better than mine, lucky thing.
Kellie, Matthew, Kimberley, Jason, Jeannie. Matthew is the odd consonant out and really the best name there.
I have a big soft spot for Jeannie (JEE nee) though. It was my Scottish Great Nan’s name.
I come back to mention I know a sibset Harry (Harrison), Maddie (Maddison) & Charlie.
Also my cousin Hannah was born 18months after me and my name is Anna- its not a sibset but its kind of interesting.
My Mum’s sibset is John, Sandra & Jillian.- Two initials the same but John & Jill are quite different sounding.
We’re running into a name problem right now and I hoping the fine readers will share their insights.
Love the name Esme but is it too close to her older sister, Ella?
Do you plan to have more kids? That’s the first question that pops into my head.
I think Ella and Esme are just on the right side of close but not-too-close. And if you later had a son, there are plenty of compatible boy names.
But a third daughter could be tough. Ella, Esme and Anya, maybe. Or Ella, Esme and Eden. But the list is (somewhat) limited. Because Ella, Esme and Molly or Ella, Esme and Sara feels like one of your girls is left out.
No, this is our last child. We have a boy named Owen, then Ella and baby#3 coming any day now. We’ve poured over names but seem to come back to Esme everytime other than questioning if it’s too close to Ella.
Owen, Ella and Esme – they’re close, but not too close – at least IMHO. Would you like me to open it up? I’ve never done it before, but I could certainly post a question – this far after an article is published, I don’t think many readers are checking back.
I agree with Corinne. I call myself an NGU – Name Geeks Unite. So, I do take naming very seriously. As long as the names aren’t specifically the same in sound or overly similar, like Keira and Kara or Kristin and Christine, then go for it. Ella and Elizabeth or Janice and Jeanette are different
Here is the thing , a lot of people don’t get into names and they just names that they like.So, a lot of people don’t have rules. They simple for what they like.Also, using a same letter could be a way to honour family. I think it depends on the family. My sibling , mom and I all have the same initial and it was not intentional at all. Our names truly were just names that she loved. They also have completely different sounds. It has yet to affect me negatively. In a way, it actually feels like we have our own little club together. In saying that, I don’t plan on using the same letter for future children
As long as the names have different sounds, I think the names can be used.
Similar names for siblings are Heaven and Nevaeh. John and Jonathan ( I kid you not)
Names where I might have a problem:Maya and Isla, Dylan and Nolan, Eden and Dylan, Eden, Evangeline and Ember, Amber and Ember (that WOULD be a problem lol), Zane and Thane (prblem).
I know a sibset that is Madison, Morgan (girl), and Matthew. The two girls look a lot a like and I call them by the wrong names all the time! I feel bad because I used to baby-sit them!
At my church we have twins Isabelle and Elizabeth, Evan and Eden, Kylie and Katie! Eeekk.
After naming my first two daughters Aeryn and Gillian, I SWORE I would pick a name with a different ending sound for the third.
Somehow, my husband and I settled on Selene.
My favourite girls name was Ashlyn, gone forever now because my first-born was a boy and we decided at the last minute to call him Asher. Way too close. The knowledge that we might never have a girl anyway allowed us to use the “Ash” sound for our beautiful son.
I grew up with my mum, dad & two brothers all sharing the same initials. Only my sister & I were unique. The others all used to open each others’ mail. To make it worse, my dad & one of my brothers shared exactly the same name (first, middle, surname), forcing the use of “junior” & “senior”. I think it’s rather archaic to name sons after dad. I actually wouldn’t mind using that name myself, or a variant of it (William – I like Billy), but I feel that my brother Bill has dibs on it if he ever has any kids.
Okay, are Owen and Caelin too close? We’re expecting baby no. 4. If he’s a boy, the only name we like so far is Caelin. (Owen is baby no. 3.) We’re pretty decided on a name that begins with C – in memory of someone we love who died.
Thanks for this great website!
You’re welcome, Jeannine. Thanks for reading!
I don’t think Owen and Caelin are too close. Owen and Cohen, yes. Owen and Caelin are similar in style, but don’t seem at all close in pronunciation.
Congratulations on baby #4!
I feel pretty late on this one, but I had to add my family. I was first, and my mom picked names she loved and would give me one of each parent’s initials- Jennifer Mariska (Jennifer of course being number one at the time, but I never minded sharing). The following year they had Jonathan Michael, same pattern for the same reason.
The real Problem? Jan (mom), Jen, and Jon all under the same roof. Mostly confusing if being yelled at from a long distance or if the speaker is mumbling.
I grew up next door to a Jennifer, younger brothers James and Jonathan – Jen, Jim, Jon – same problem!