Brother wants to use my name

You’re the one who’s pregnant so use whatever name you want! By the time they get pregnant they might change their mind anyway, then you’ll be wishing you used the name you loved after all!!

I've never seen it in this way! If anything my older sister was annoyed I'd stolen her middle name (TBF her first name is terrible - don't name your kids after a fictional Highland cow guys🙈)

OP, Eliza and Madeleine are both beautiful

Cross posted with you ( started my post then
had to leave it unfined, then saw your post after I posted it!)

good decision! Hope the pregnancy & birth hi well!
Madeleine is much nicer than Eliza!!

You'll thank you DH later, she's not going to be a pizza! Or a game!

I think it's weird to have loved a name 'so much' that you didn't use it first, used it as a middle name for your second, but now your brother & his gf have said they like it for a future name you want to 'ring fence' it by using it.

it wasn't 'good enough' for your first two girls names but it's 'good enough' for your 3rd.

give your 3rd daughter a name that's fresh & all her own!

Great Choice, I love Eliza
i named my imaginary twin girls Alice and Eliza!
I have 3 sons.

Eliza is gorgeous.

How about Elspeth?

Agree.

At some point, your third daughter will want to know why she didn't get her own special name just for her.

There will be plenty of cast offs and second hand stuff in this girl's life - give her a name that's unique to her.

This.

I had the very same dilemma, my DD has the middle name Rose which I love and wanted to use it as a 1st name for newborn DD.

We ended up going with a variant of Rose as we didn’t want to give them the exact same name. It is similar but not the same, honestly it’s something I’m glad about now as I think they deserve their own name.

I love Eliza though, imo it’s so much nicer than Esme.

I think if you loved the name that much you would have already used it.

I wouldn’t worry about your brother using the same name - I have the same name as my cousin and it’s never been a problem.

It's one thing to have a family surname that you give to any and all DCs as a middle name, but it's something else again to give a given name to one child as a middle name and another as a first name. I agree with other PPS, it sounds like you couldn't find another name out of hundreds to give your third DD a name of her own.
Eliza is a lovely name!

This!

Please give your third daughter her OWN name. She deserves it. By reusing her sister’s middle name it feels like you ran out of names and couldn’t be bothered to find a name for her!

That's one of the weirder things I've seen on here lately, which is saying something...

Your DB says he likes the name now but by the time his child comes along (if they even have a girl) he may have a completely different name in mind.

I much prefer Eliza but tbh you could just say to him that you’re possibly going to call your daughter Esme and feeling a bit awkward after he said he likes it too.

I’m not sure why you didn’t speak up at the time?

I know a family…father and 3 boys. All have both a first and a middle name. Between all of them there are only 4 names.

OP, I wouldn’t not use the name just because your brother might want to use it. If you like it, you use it. I don’t think it’s a big deal that an older sister already has the name as a middle name. I would give careful thought as to why it didn’t make the cut the first two times you were choosing first names. I would also consider if there could be confusion over Esmeee or Esmay and if that will annoy you/your daughter.

.. and absolutely nothing the royal family do is at all weird.
It is weird. Give your new daughter her own name.

I agree. You have used the name. Your brother can use it as he hasn't used the name.

Don't sidestep a name that you love because someone might get pregnant in future and has a 50/50 chance of being able to use the name you like.

However, don't give DD3 DD2's middle name, that feels odd. It's like you didn't like it enough to call DD2 it, but you now can't think of anything else. Let DD3 have her own name. I like Eliza more.

@BarnacleBeasley , the major royals are limited in the names they can choose, but some of the late Queen Elizabeth's great-grandchildren have names that don't meet my approval.

I'm not convinced that 'the Royal family do it' is a strong argument for something not being a bit odd.

My mum is the youngest of four girls, and has no middle name. Her parents were quite open about saying they’d run out of girls’ names they liked!

Reusing a name has similar vibes, I wouldn’t.

I think it’s odd they want to use the name you’ve loved for so long, but sometimes a name grows on you after hearing it over a long time and maybe that’s what has happened here.

I think it would be strange for you to use it now having given it to your middle daughter - it’s now her name.

It's not your name, you don't own it.