Middle Name for previous child as first name for next?

This happened in DP's family. DP is the older one - his middle name, with a slightly different spelling but the same pronunciation, was chosen as his younger brother's first name.

As soon as he could, younger brother changed his name and is now known as something totally different but with same initial.

Not sure why their parents did this - is not even an unusual or particularly interesting name so unlikely to have been a favourite.

I would not do it personally.

I would have if dc3 had been a boy but, as it happens it's a girl so no problem on that front.

Personally I don't see a problem with it!

I would avoid it if possible. However only 2 girls names stand out for us (that are different enough to use both anyway) and I think it's unlikely well have two girls as he already has 3, but then is it more likely? Anyway using the second name as a middle name enables us to use another nickname (my favourite nickname!) for this baby if It's a girl but it would make me reluctant to use that name for a 2nd girl. So not sure what to do there!

I don't think it's the end of the world as you don't use your mn too often but I'd still rather not do it. In theory you could use your dds first name as mn to make it even, then they'd have the same names in reverse, but I do think that's a little twee.

I think it depends how significant middle names are in your family, I didn't now I had one until I was older and it came up in conversation.
Would you care if you were the younger child with older siblings middle name? I think I'd struggle to see it as a problem.

IMO each child is an individual and should have their own, individual, name. So, my opinion is no, don't do it.

I personally would never do that. There are lots of names out there.... You might enjoy finding a new one to fall in love with!

I regret not doing this! I wish I had used ds2's middle name for ds3.

No, I wouldn't. Their middle name is part of their identity, it would feel wrong making them share that

dh and his brother have this.

They used 2 grandfathers names for dh (as dc1)
then used grandmothers names for dd (and one grandmother has female version of dh middle name - like eg Paul and Paula)

they then had ds2. The grandfather whose name had been used as middle name was Very Upset because his name was a middle name, so they named ds2 Paul

so they are

firstname Paul surname
firstname Paula surname
Paul secondname surname

It is bizarre. But they aren't bothered as they are known by first names anyway.

We thought about this but decided against it, we use his middle name too much and it'd just be confusing.

This is a good lesson for any new parents reading though - don't use 2 favourite names on 1 child!

I definitely wouldn't do that.

I would assume you were one of the following

1. unimaginative
2. lazy
3. a bit obsessed about child number 1
4. a bit less excited about child number 2

Yes, this is the case for two of my sisters. The name in question is also the Irish for our mother's name. It has never been an issue.

My middle name is my younger sisters first name. Never bothered me at all.

I'm sure I either read on here, or someone in real life told me (god I can't differentiate between the 2, that's bad!) about brothers who were called the reverse of each other's names, so for eg, John David and David John.

As long as you don't go that far, you'll be fine!

DH has his older brother's first name as his middle name. In their mid thirties now, apart from the occasional good natured jibe at their parents for being unimaginative, or at DH for having a reject name, it's not even the tiniest of deals! It's only the immediate family that even know, so in day to day life, who cares.

My first name is my older sisters middle name. It has never ever bothered me.

I wouldn't. It would feel a bit like I couldn't think of anything better than big sibling's name.

My son (DC2) has my DH's choice of first name, my choice of middle name - fine since I chose DD1's first name, DH chose middle name. I would LOVE it if DS was known by his middle name - it is my favourite boys name. When we were expecting DC3 I felt gutted I'd used my favourite boys name as a middle name instead of saving for DC3. But once we were expecting DC3 I just got used to the idea that my favourite name was done and used.....we needed to think of some others. She was a girl.....so didn't need to face the issue as we had other girls names we liked. But despite our lack of decision on boys names (we hadn't agreed immediately pre birth and didn't know the sex) I still wouldn't have used DS's middle name.

I wouldn' t do it. i can't imagine that either my sister or myself would have been happy about it if our parents had done this. I think your name is an important part of your own individual identity - it should be 'yours'.

Give each child their own name.

Squoosh - I completely disagree.

I have 2 favourite boys names and, as it happens DH didn't like one of them so we have it as DS's middle name rather than 1st name. I didn't think I would ever get to use it as a 1st name...dc2 was a girl and now I'm having dc3, DH said that actually he does like that name so, if it had been a boy then I would've used it - it wasn't 2nd choice and I'm not obsessed with DS! As it happens I'm having a girl, but if we have a 4th I'll probably use it!

I say use your favourite name and don't compromise.

Well I still think it sounds desperately unimaginative.

I agree with squoosh

Montsti - use it. As I said upthread I regret not doing it, and anyone outside the family would have no idea anyway. Middle names are rarely used.

This happened to my two brothers. Elder brother has always hated his first name, so would ideally have swapped to his middle name, but can't because it's our younger brother's name.

Bit stupid of our parents really. I always thought part of the reason for having a middle name, was to give the child an alternative name to use, should they want to use it?

As it turns out, for long and complicated reasons, two of my DCs are now both known by their middle names!