Does my baby name have to 'go' with stepkids names??

Oh god ignore your friend! As long as you and dh like the name who cares!

Yes of course it couldn't be any other way are you absurd. It must match. It must be 99.9999889% identical.

No of course you don't. Naming your child is so precious and personal, why on earth would you take your OH ex wife's taste in names into account! No matter which name you choose once your baby has arrived and grown into their name it'll 'go' as that's what you'll all be used to. Congratulations xx

I have a friend whos mum had the three of them 18+ years ago and they all have fairly common traditional names, she met a guy who's kids also had common names and they have a toddler now who has a fairly unusual French name, I wouldn't Care aaslong as youre not naming your child something similar ie Emma and Emily or matilda and Matthew ect

Better than the names being too similar! There was an article in the Guardian a few years ago about a blended family who ended up with a pair of stepsisters both named Molly.

Matching names are cringey, babies grow into adults and are not a set so don't need matchy twee names.
I know of a family who have 5 or 6 children all named after perfume and aftershaves. Chanel I can kind of see, but joop is a touch too far for my taste.

My kids don't have names connected or matching in any way. DH has 2 half siblings, one from each parents first marriage, and they don't match- one is a classic/timeless, one was popular at the time and his is popular now but almost completely unheard of when he was a kid. None of them were bothered by their names.

I have half siblings and my name is very different to theirs. They have names which were popular at the time they were born, like Sharon and Tracey.

Then Dad married my Mam who is a native Welsh speaker and I have a Welsh name which is quite different to my siblings names. None of us have been bothered by this.

I know people with slightly same kids names from one relationship, think Faith and Hope with a half sibling whose name is of a different style, think Ava or Ruby. It's fine, honestly.

I would avoid an obvious clash - if he has a Romeo you can't then have Juliet for example. Same witb Sophie and Sophia, Alexander/Alexandra etc. Other than that I wouldn't worry about it.

I think as long as it doesn't horribly clash or sound too similar its probably fine e.g it would be weird to have an Emilia and an Amelia or a Harry and a Carrie. The age gap also means they are unlikely to be known in school as 'Matilda's sister' etc, they'll have their own identity.

Siblings names don’t need to match or go together - they can be as different as you like. They are individuals.

Just because I’m nosy, but do you think your DH gets that the other names could be perceived a certain way and that you have a different style? You say there are a lot of names he likes, so do you think he is oblivious to the initial theme/style?

My DH definitely has a fairly similar taste to me but there are a few names that we disagreed on where he sees them in a total different light to me.

Oh my goodness go with what you want! I think it's really tacky when all names 'go together' anyway!!!! I REALLY don't like one of my step children's names and am also embarrassed! I want to follow with 'it wasn't my choice!' 😂

Peter Andre is a pretty extreme example of this; his older ones have a completely different style of name to the younger 2. The four names look a bit weird together but so what? It wouldn’t make me choose a name for my child that I didn’t like! Pick the name you (and DP) like best!

Princess Tiaamii Crystal Esther Andre
Junior Savva Andreas Andre
Amelia Andre
Theodore James Andre

I'm a child of a second marriage and I spent my entire childhood wanting to feel part of what my siblings had and were so I would have been devastated if my name really singled me out as not "belonging" to my older siblings. As it is my name shares a first letter with two of them and we all had the same surname. It helped.
However, some names are massively cringe so I don't blame you for not wanting to add to a set of crap names (I even changed my rescue dogs name as it wasn't very 'us')

In short I think it's a tough one. Certainly not as simple as "It doesn't need to go"

No, this is your chance for you and DH to choose a name that you like for your baby.
Your SC's may not be that keen on their own names!

I've never understood the thing about sibling names having to'match' in some way . They are individual people and their names don't have to go together. The main thing is that you and DH agree on a name you like.

So. For example. DH already has;

Chanel
Hunter
Riley
Piper

And you would like something like Matilda?

I still think that would be totally fine.

A friend's opinion on your baby name has 'thrown' you?!

Wow. I thought you were going to say it's your child's father with reservations. Maybe ask your friend what name he prefers.

I don’t think it matters.

You hate their style of names so wouldn’t it be a shame to lumber your own child with something that goes?

What does your DH think? Has he suggested any names? - are they in a similar vein to his others?

No. They are 5 individual humans not a matching set of ornaments.

That said, I wouldn’t go for say, Charlotte if DH already has a Charlie. Or a boy called Taylor if DH has a girl called Taylor etc etc...

But the names don’t need to match, no.

No! Name the baby something you and your osrent like. As long as isn't one if his either child's names it's fine