Future sibling names aren’t always top-of-mind when we’re naming a child. But they matter. After all, 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.
Some parents might never notice that Joanna and Jackson are both related to John.
Or maybe the first time Kelly introduces her daughter Grace, she suddenly realizes that the legendary Grace Kelly is echoed in their names.
Siblings’ names will be said together countless times. The names we like often have much in common.
So how can you tell if your sibling name choices make for a compatible set, or if they’re much too close?
There are no hard-and-fast rules, but here are ten factors to consider. They start mild, maybe-rethink-this kind of considerations. As we reach the top of the list? By #3, it’s best to think long and hard about your choice.
Table of Contents
- 10. The names share the same meaning.
- 9. The names share the same origins.
- 8. You’ve neglected 25 letters of the alphabet.
- 7. The sibling names are (romantically) linked in history or pop culture.
- 6. Your choices can lead to same nickname.
- 5. Your favorite sibling names share the same ending.
- 4. They nest like Russian matryoshka dolls.
- 3. They share the same first syllable.
- 2. The names rhyme.
- 1. A combination of the above.
- So should you choose a different name?
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.
Sometimes the challenge 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.
It’s not necessarily a problem, but it might feel limiting as your family grows.
9. The names share the same origins.
Name enthusiasts know that Jacob and James are related. A popular combination for twin girls is Isabella and Elizabeth – two forms of the same name, even if it’s not quite like choosing Mary Anne and Marianne.
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, probably feel too close. Partially, it’s the shared origin. But the name also check a lot of boxes further up this list.
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 Josie and Jude.
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 ice hockey fans, or was Harvey not their style?
And if you’re on the second generation sharing the same initial for sibling names, your options might be very limited.
7. The sibling names are (romantically) 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 because of their shared connections. Imagine daughters named for two Jane Austen heroines, as in Emma and Elinor.
Then there’s Gillian Anderson’s threesome – Piper, Oscar, and Felix. Her kids might not know The Odd Couple, and it’s not a negative reference, either – so that’s probably a non-issue.
Some do feel truly unthinkable – siblings named Romeo and Juliet, maybe. The biggest challenge for overly matched sibling names? Probably famous romantic partners. Albert’s sister can’t be Victoria, and if your favorite name for a girl is Bonnie, strike Clyde from your boy’s list forever.
Though, of course, it can happen after the fact – in which case, all you can do is laugh and promise that, no, the Twilight novels didn’t inspire you to name your children Jacob and Bella twenty years ago.
6. Your choices can lead to same nickname.
Sure, you never intend to call Katherine or Kaitlyn by the nickname Katie. But it could easily happen. And how will their sister Annie feel about having an unrelated name?
Not every set of names that shares a nickname feels too close. Amelia and Marianna could both shorten to Mia. Alexander and Natasha might both go by Sasha.
This rule about sibling names mostly applies to the obvious short forms. Bennett and Benjamin, for example.
The harder you have to think about it, the less it becomes a concern.
5. Your favorite sibling names 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. In this case, it might not bother your children … but it could make repeating their names together a tongue-twister.
4. They nest like Russian matryoshka dolls.
Does one name fit neatly inside the other? Annika and Julian share an “an” but it isn’t at all obvious.
But Ella and Kellen almost sound like they’re part of the other.
In cases like Anna and Susanna, one sibling’s name is an elaboration of the other.
That can be a little too close for sibling names.
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 is tougher to navigate for sibling names.
Imagine sisters named Madeline and Madison? A brother-sister pair called Jordan and Georgia? Twins Miley and Myla?
They’re not impossible, and some cultures prefer sibling names that are as close as possible. But for most families, these feel repetitive.
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.
That means we rule out Emma and Gemma, Hallie and Callie, but also maybe Jonah and Rowan – unless we’re confident they’ll never be called Joe and Row.
1. A combination of the above.
Jackson and Jonathan are close, but probably on the right side of the line. Jack and Sean? Probably fine. Jack and John, though? That inches even closer to the line.
Jeffrey and Stephanie seem less problematic than Benjamin and Jennifer – because the nicknames rhyme and we think of them as a matched pair.
Sarah and Laura are pretty similar as sibling names, but Laura and Maura feel like they cross a line.
So should you choose a different name?
Ultimately, choosing sibling names is completely up to the parents. In most cases, thinking through whether a name is too close is subjective. For everyone who insists that Remy and Romy are way too similar, there’s a family that finds those names exactly right.
This is about testing out your favorites and anticipating problems before you’re holding your newborn in your arms.
What choices have you had to reject because they’re just too close to your an older child’s name?
First published on December 10, 2009, this post was revised and re-published on January 19, 2022 and again on September 7, 2025.
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!
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?
Okay, I’m feeling guilty. Thinking of Michelle and poor micro-preemie Josie Brooklyn!
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*)
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.
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 used to nanny for a Phoebe and a Chloe, which I thought were too close.
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 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.
Actually, I know a pair of twins that are Zach and Isaac, and it never occurred to me that they may be too close. That’s probably because here in Minnesota “Isaac” doesn’t sound like “Zach”. It’s more of an EYE-zik than an EYE-zak. I don’t know if the pronunciations sound closer in other places, but here they just seem matched but not rhyme-y.
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 🙂