Eve and Steve- thoughts ?

Steve is the dad

really cool. go for it. We dont see that many young Steves anymore

I like Evelyn shortened to Evie - would you consider that as it’s a little different to Steve?

I know quite a few families who always name the first son after the father, and yes, it is unusual to hear of new baby Gary or Stewart in amongst all the Arlos and Noahs, but there is also something touching about having unbroken link to your ancestors.

But - especially if we're talking about the male line and tradition - isn't that precisely the exact purpose of a surname? It might be a weird analogy, but I see it a bit like with cars - where they all start with the same maker's 'family' name, to show their brand/provenance/heritage/where they belong, but then they all have distinctive model names. You don't get the tiny two-seater Ford Mondeo, the small family hatchback Ford Mondeo, the large Ford Mondeo saloon, the Ford Mondeo SUV and the enormous Ford Mondeo seven-seater - with an additional Ford Mondeo van for work if somebody in the family is a tradesperson.

I don't necessarily see a big issue with naming your child after a grandparent/great-grandparent for purposes of honour/tradition or whatever; but I just find it bizarre to have two close people in the same family, whose lives may overlap for 60 years, with the exact same name.

I assumed that most people would be excited about the idea of being responsible for a brand new life and thinking long and hard before deciding upon what they consider to be the perfect name to give to him/her, rather than knowing 30 years before the (potential) baby's birth what the name would be; but I suppose folk are all different.

Really not a problem

I love it

In some places it's a tradition that some are happy to carry on. In Scotland for example, it was historically traditional to name babies after someone, resulting in a fairly narrow name pool until the advent of film, which introduced a wider variety of names. The older naming patterns were soon dropped but many continued to used family names in some form or another, e.g. by including them as middle names, and some adopted patterns still in use today. I know quite a few families who always name the first son after the father, and yes, it is unusual to hear of new baby Gary or Stewart in amongst all the Arlos and Noahs, but there is also something touching about having unbroken link to your ancestors.

More directly, it's not generally that confusing as people will often be known as
different versions of the name e.g. a family with many Jameses (very common inn Scotland) will usually have a Jim, Jimmy, Jamie, Jamesie, Wee James, Old James, Wee Jim, Big Jimmy, Hamish etc. So everyone always knows whose being talked about.

My name, also my mother's name, has been used for women in my family for at least two hundred years, and I like that it's unusual in my peer group, and also that I can look at a person in my family tree from nine generations back and think, "I'm named after her".

I'm still utterly bewildered as to how a man called Stephen could name his DD Stephanie and not even realise that it was basically the female equivalent of his own name.

Still, you get some children with very unfortunate initials that their parents apparently never took a few seconds to bother thinking about. We also know of a little boy named 'Issac' (but pronounced like Isaac), because his mum and dad - who are never off Facebook, so almost always have a phone right there in their hand - didn't trouble themselves to Google the name first. It isn't a case of scrawling 'brockily' on your shopping list and reckoning that it doesn't matter if it's right, as you know what you mean; this is an actual person's officially-registered name for life.

I wonder if Evel Knievel's official birth name was actually Evelyn Kniamhelyn?!

it wouldn't bother me at all. Yeah if you had siblings called steve and eve but otherwise not. She may become Evie or use the full name anyway.

But if you don't like your name, or really feel strongly that you wish it had been something else, why not just ask everybody to call you that as your 'known as' name?

You can be officially Pamela, known as Jennifer, if you like; but when it's already part of your name, so it will just seem like an informal shortening - like Gemma being called Emma, so not necessarily that different from Rebecca being called Becca/Becky - what's the issue?

Totally agree @OnTheRightSideOfGeography - it's bizarre. Suspect the narcissistic/ unimaginative/ boringly traditional and compliant all play a part

I'd love to know the reasoning behind people's choices to name their children after themselves - exactly the same name or clearly intended as a variation of it.

Is it arrogance, lack of imagination, seeing their child as an extension of them, or what?

I'm not a fan personally, but I can understand it more if it's after a grandparent, who is unlikely to be living in the same household; or after a parent who died before/whilst the child was born; but otherwise? I'd love to know the thinking behind it.

Most people seem to understand how it can get confusing or slightly more complicated when you get two people with the same name in a class or workplace - when there was no way of anybody knowing or preventing it beforehand. But when you know for a fact that you have a Paul in your family and you're going to introduce a second one - especially as they're likely to share the same surname as well...?

I don't. I think it's quite likely that a Gemma might have wished her name was Emma, or a Catherine might have been preferred to be a Katherine.
All the names are nice.

I had neighbours, Pauline and Ray who had sons Paul and Raymond and a friend who gave her son the same, very unusual name, as her husband just cos she liked it not because she was naming him after him. I'm not sure I'm the right person to ask in that basis but I say if you like it go for it.

I do know a lady called Gemma who has a daughter called Emma. Always think it's v odd.

I was thinking how when tiny we named our teddies and dolls after our cousins. We named kittens after DSis's classmates. We didn't know many names.
Looking back, the names seem a bit ridiculous. Nowadays nobody bats an eyelid at a kitten called Alfie or Rosie, but a teddy called Jonathan and a kitten called Sarah might seem strange.

I never understand scenarios like that, where there's a couple, one son and one daughter - and the son is named after the dad; but the daughter isn't named after the mum.

She'll probably end up being called Evvie (from Evelyn) anyway.

Ev or Evie are fine; but Evvie just sounds far too much like 'heavy' for me. Imagine if a girl known as Evvie ended up somewhat overweight, that could be very unpleasant for her.

Indeed.

"This is Charlotte, who is 3; and this is her little brother Smellypoopoobumwilly, who is 6 months!"

I went to school with Amanda. Her brother was Andrew named after the dad and the mother was Sandra.

Sandy
Andy
Andy
Mandy
🤷🏼‍♀️

@GreatestGatsby , use it if you love it. I know a few parents with a child with a similar name (e,g, Cara and Zara, Zoe and Chloe).

Oh, this is so interesting! I think I’ve just about given up on one of my favourite names because it rhymes with mine: both four syllables, last three syllables are the same (ending is -elia).

Those saying Steve and Eve is OK, do you think it’s different when it’s mother and daughter? I know she’ll go out into the world, but I think I’ll feel a bit daft spending at least five years going to baby groups/toddler parties/first days at school and having to say “Hi, I’m Cecelia, and this is Ophelia” (not the names).

(Apologies if this details the original thread).

I thought you were going to speak about a set if siblings! It's not even their full names, it's 100% a non issue.