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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Really like Henry but already have a Harry - help!

132 replies

Spellcheck · 05/01/2013 10:32

Please can I have some opinions on this! Expecting my DC4 (DP's 1st) in a few weeks. It's a boy, and we are really stuck for names. I am a teacher and therefore most names remind me of some of the children I teach so I don't want them as they are already 'taken' IYSWIM. The only name we really, really like is Henry.

However, my first son is Harry. It's a name in it's own right, I didn't call him Henry and shorten it, so surely as they will both have different surnames, it would be ok to call DS2 Henry?? Some friends have called the idea into question, and now I've thought about it so much I can't think straight.

What would you think if a friend did it? Or should I say sod what everyone thinks and go for it anyway?

OP posts:

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CheeseStrawWars · 10/01/2013 14:32

Oh, it's sweet your DS came up with the name. What about Henrik? Henry as a nickname? (Bit tenuous?)

RubyGates · 10/01/2013 07:45

It was common to give at least the first couple of boys the same first (usually the father's) name and call them different diminutives because noone expected both to live to adulthood and reproduce.

WE have ancestors in the 19th century with two sons called Israel but only one survived

Harry and Henry are the same name. To me it feels as if your replacing DS1 with DS2 by using the same name. Will you call a third Hal?

RiaOverTheRainbow · 10/01/2013 05:43

Even if your ds1 is fine with essentially having his brother named after him, you've no way of knowing how ds2 would feel about it. As a middle name it's fine, but give him his own name too.

Also, unless I were introduced to them together I'd probably spend ages trying to figure out which boy was Henry aka Harry, and what the other brother was called.

CheerfulYank · 10/01/2013 04:43

Definitely wouldn't.

schroedingersdodo · 10/01/2013 04:24

they are the same name

TheOriginalSteamingNit · 09/01/2013 23:30

You can't have Henry and harry! That's like having Lizzie and Elizabeth!

MoottonBun · 09/01/2013 23:29

NotLongUntilXmas - I am dying to know what your daughters' similar names are - can't think of anything significantly different for English/French equivalents, please share!

TameGaloot · 09/01/2013 22:08

Narked
Really? Everything I've seen says that Harry or Herry were the medieval pronunciations of Henry which is from Heimirich / Heinrich as is Henri/ Henricus

StrawberryMojito · 09/01/2013 20:12

PickledInAPearTree · 07/01/2013 22:49

Noooooooooooooooo

Pancakeflipper · 07/01/2013 20:39

Was she called MintyMojito?

StrawberryMojito · 07/01/2013 19:38

My younger half sister was given a variation on my name. I was not and still am not impressed. Don't do it OP.

Pancakeflipper · 07/01/2013 19:26

No.

In our family you wouldn't use John and Jack as my Grandpa's proper name was John but known as Jack as his less formal name...

ZooAnimals · 07/01/2013 19:15

As the OP and her family clearly view Henry and Harry as two seperate names, I don't think the younger DC will grow up feeling he has been named after his brother and feel pressure to 'live up' to him.

AuntieShirley · 07/01/2013 16:33

Also, I don't think I would like to be the younger sibling and feel as though I had been named after a big brother. I would feel as though Iwas supposed to be living up to something.

persephoneplum · 07/01/2013 14:08

I wouldn't even use Hamish and James for brothers let alone Harry and Henry.

And my son Felix thinks it's a great idea to call his baby brother Fox because it's so similar to his own name. Um no. I'm the parent, I name the baby (even though I love Fox, it's too similar).

I personally don't give a fig about democratic naming practices - my son will name a baby when he has one himself. Just because it was his suggestion doesn't make it a good one.

Narked · 07/01/2013 13:11

Root wise they are different - Harry from Harold and Henry from Henri - but they're seen as too closely related now to use both.

finchale · 07/01/2013 13:07

I wouldn't do this - it would be a bit different if ds1 was Henry, and happy not to use the nickname Harry -
but if you call ds2 Henry, then he cannot use the nickname Harry, even though many Henrys do use Harry as a less formal version of their name.

SpanishLady · 07/01/2013 12:48

I have a Henry and we call him Harry - I really wouldnt do what you are suggesting.

sonnieboo · 07/01/2013 12:16

I honestly would not name one of my sons Henry if I already had one called Harry, sorry. Wouldn't your son Harry feel a little annoyed with having to share his name with his little brother? Wouldn't it be nicer for both of them to have their OWN name?

confuddledDOTcom · 07/01/2013 01:32

Harry is already starting to be called Henry officially. I remember my feed going mad with idiots going "Prince Henry? His name's Harry!" during Olympics ceremony (I think?)

QOD · 07/01/2013 01:19

They'll be 14yrs apart., never at same school etc. I wouldn't worry about it.

My Dh has 3 siblings . Without actually giving their real names they are the equivalent of

Julia
Julian
Patricia
Patrick

its mental to be fair, but who cares

echidnakid · 07/01/2013 00:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

TalkativeJim · 07/01/2013 00:09

They're the same name!

Yes many people see Harry as now standalone but - they are the same name. Harry is the nickname for Henry. I know two Henrys who are known as Harry, and of course there's the Playboy Prince

Don't do it.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 06/01/2013 16:59

I think it would be v silly.

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