Sister in law using same baby name

I get why you feel narked. It's seriously lacking in originality. You have my sympathy.

Years ago when my sis had her first baby, and the first grandchild in the family, I flew over from abroad to see her. She couldn't decide on a name and so I went out and bought a baby name book from WH Smith that cost me a bomb - using my last English tenner.
I flew home a few days later and she rang to say they had given the baby the same name as me, but she also pointed out that it wasn't after me or a tribute of any kind! Um, thanks then. I was pretty miffed on many levels for a while but we are two very different people - people know that too and you soon get used to it. Take a deep breath, don't overthink it (and maybe be a tad smug you got in there first... LOL).

You named your daughter 7

I would normally say you’re not being unreasonable. However you used Sophie and Sophia as an example and to me, they sound different. Also, your sister in law may have liked the name prior to you having your daughter? If you aren’t particularly close, she may not even consider that the two close names will be an issue. Perhaps view it as a compliment rather than an insult?

DD & SIL chose the same name for their (only) child as that of DD's GodM's (only) DGS. DD & SIL chose the name because easy to spell & sounds same in their two different languages. Realised were 'copying' but +reasons topped
-reasons. There's a 10yr age-diff between the 2 chrn. In the event: GodM; her DD, & DGS were all delighted.

Chn now known as "Big +Name" and "Little+Name", when we're all together. Or, sometimes: "My +Name" and "Your +Name". So as to differentiate who we're speaking about.

Chn are delighted to share a name, and to be "Big" and "Little", it draws them together & has been a bonding thing, rather than anything confusing or detrimental.

I think its moronic and shows a huge lack of IQ and imagination.
Nothing you can do about it.

My colleagues SIL did it to her daughter by giving her baby the same name, Alice.
They started referring to her as Baby Al which stuck and pissed off her mother no end.
She was called Ally eventually, but never Alice.
The grandparents thought it was very silly as they lived nearby, same surname, same primary school.
Very silly.

Obviously! Doesn’t make it ok though

It’s bloody stupid. I would not have chosen a name thats already taken by a close family member

Now your parents have two granddaughters with the same name…

Maybe they really liked your daughter’s name but obviously didn’t want to use it, so chose one like it.

My in laws like using the same names on purpose - it was confusing when I first joined the family. So a lot of parents name their first same sex child after themselves and then if they have another same sex child they’ll use a siblings name - and their siblings are doing the same - so you end up with about three names shared between 12 people.

Meh I have the same (exact same) name as two of my cousins. One on each side of the family believe it or not. It really not an issue. I’m close to one of the cousins we are close to best friends now as adults and just friendly with the other.

I reckon its
Amelia
Emilia

We have 3 named Jonathan in our small family - 2 by design, 1 by marriage. My husband's mother had 3 named Patricia in herbfamily, again 2 by design 1 by marriage. It's no big deal, you just develop ways of identifying each individual.

My sister in law did the same her DD with my DS1. Think Daniel Daniela / Michael Michaellla. Then my other sister in law (so both DH’s sisters) almost did the same with her DS2 and my DD, think along lines of Adi Adin (ie same name with a consonant at the end). No one owns a name
and they all have different surnames as DH doesn’t have any brothers. Doesn’t matter.

My sister named her DC a name that rhymes with my DC's name, only the first letter different. I was really surprised and a bit perplexed. I didn't say anything other than 'that's lovely ' and I don't even think about now.

Very true. I do wonder where 'wanting to maintain the family links' blurs into 'this new baby is just an extension of me and not a unique individual in their own right', though.

Utterly ridiculous.

There's five of us cousins all with the same name 😂 we were all named after our Grannie.
We get by.

Yes but George Jetson and his son George Jetson creates more of a tie than just Mike Jetson. And George Fairbanks has nothing to do with it.

Fair enough; different people will have very different views on it. But surely most of the common first names that are passed down the family are shared with even more people than most surnames?

George Foreman had 5 sons called George Edward Foreman, as well as a daughter called Georgetta - although his other 6 daughters have completely non-Georgy names, which I think seems even weirder.

Nobody can tell me that they would instinctively and primarily associate the names George or Edward with his family; yes, he was famous, but there are and have been countless men out there called George or Edward through the centuries - the vast, vast majority of them not related to boxer Mr Foreman in any way whatsoever.

Because people like the fact that names can tie families at a more fundamental level than a surname. Sharing a first name with your mother and grandmother is a stronger sense of kinship than just a surname that you share with possibly hundreds.

I think some of the reason for this practice dropping out of vogue in some circles is the broader breakdown of family units, something which I think lies at the heart of the very fragmented, unsupported society we now have, often marked by extensive MH issues. I suppose for that reason symbolic ties of family unity appeal to me.

Just prefix your niece’s name with “Baby”, so if your DD is Grace and your niece’s is Gracie you say:

“Grace & baby Gracie will be there on Saturday.”

And if you want to, you do this until the niece is well into adulthood, just to ensure people know who you’re speaking about 😉

Agree!

In most families where they give multiple people the same name, they usually distinguish by using a middle name, or name variant, or nickname for each person.

If you're going to do that anyway, why not just give them different actual names in the first place?! The surname clearly shows the family link; you don't need to use the first name as an extra surname.

But you still end up with the name being unfit for its very basic purpose, even if it's two members who don't live in the same household.

If you have two cousins called Peter and you comment to your spouse that you bumped into your cousin Peter in Asda today, that then requires the question "Which cousin Peter?".

At its root, a person's name is just a noun, like for anything else. If every type of vegetable were known as a carrot, or every hairstyle were known as a perm, or every colour were referred to as green, it would clearly get absurd and terribly confusing very quickly.