Our top girls' name is also my sister-in-law's name!

My brother and SIL were thinking of using my name for their daughter.
I hated the idea! It felt like they were taking away my name.
They eventually chose something else much to my relief.

Is Emma our favourite name or your favourite name OP? I cannot see why this wasn't ruled out by your DH as soon as it was suggested as it's his sister's name!

My dad and his adult nephew have same name, it's a common name and his nephew wasn't named after him, I think my aunt just liked the name (she had 3 other children, they all have names no one else in family has).

I guess it might seem stranger in a smaller family but my dad has 15 nieces/nephews and between them they have around 30 children - some of whom are adults and on to the next generation. I think it's inevitable that there is some name duplication.

Probably would check that it's ok with your sister, but I don't see the problem really. My dad and his nephew have the same name, but they do use quite different nicknames. Eg if the name was Jonathan one would go by Jon and one by Nate. Less option for that with Emma.

My son's name is the same as my BIL. Definitely a coincidence - no one assumed we named him after him, which we didn't!
Depends on the name + family, etc but absolutely fine in our situation (and prob your as the name is timeless and not uncommon).

I honestly don't really see a problem. My mum has 4 siblings, 3 of those siblings each named one of their kids Jenny. Nobody cared.
I love the name Emma and prefer it to Emily. If it wasn't my own name I'd probably have had it top of my list for a girls names. As it is I had 2 boys but our top girls name was Alice which I think has a similar timeless simplicity to it

I think it would be weird. My parents had the same problem with me. My dad wanted the same name for me as my Mum’s sister. It was a very popular name at the time. They decided it would be too weird so my name is different by one letter. Think Clare and Clara (not those names but you get the idea).
i am very glad to have a different name from my aunt. It would have been confusing and I like being am individual with a similar but different name. I would say steer away from Emma.

Wouldn't be weird. I'd imagine she'd be flattered however word of warning. I work across primary 1 and 2 and our classes are currently packed full of Emma's, Emily, Ella and Ellies All a bit samey and people get muddled plus have to be referred to with their second initial.

If it were a name like Elizabeth where there are plenty of nickname options then I think it would be fine but I wouldn't with Emma.

First thing I thought, too.

And for him to say you’re mad for not wanting to go for it.

He obviously really loves the name…..

I don’t like Emma, but love Emily!!

Doesn't happen to any of the children in my family, in one case the older person is known as Big and the name.

Honestly, everyone will get over. It's a non issue. Once baby is here no problem

I’m from a Scottish family, we have a big Archie (92), Archie (60 - son of big Archie) and wee Archie (30s - son of big Archie’s daughter).
We also have big Tom, Tom and wee Tom.
Everyone knows who is being spoken about.

This. She’ll be “little Emma” all her life otherwise.

I'd be buzzing if my niece was named after me, not weird at all!

However, my name is crap and chavvy so I wouldn't wish it on a child. My name is NOT Emma, which IMO is lovely and a classic so I'd say go for it!

Because they like it, isn't that how most names get on the list?

I have the same name as my aunt. We were always Big Priam and Little Priam. But she is my aunt by marriage and married my uncle shortly after I was born.

How has Emma even made the list when it’s a family name?

I think Emily would work better.

Other classic names
Rachel
Rebecca
Alice
Jane
Sarah
Louisa

Not weird at all to me. Go back a couple of generations and everyone seemed to have the same name. My dad has the same name as his nephew. Besides, presumably your SIL won’t be Emma to your baby Emma: she’ll be Auntie Emma. Different!

I don't know what is odd about it. Some families have the same name coming up generation after generation. I've got 6 GC, four of them are named for a grandparent or great grantparent. Doesn't cause any confusion at all. If someone says, "Billy did well at school today" no one thinks his granddad has gone back into education.

A bit odd....there's plenty of other beautiful names to choose from.

How odd for your husband's favourite name for his child to be the same name as his sister.

I put a thread on here years ago about a similar thing- we loved a nn for Elizabeth which is my SIL's name. The feedback was a resounding 'no'! I personally wouldn't do it (and we didn't use SIL's name for DD1!).

That's weird to me.