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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Charles and Charlotte?

75 replies

peter887 · 03/09/2026 10:18

We have a 1.5 year old boy named Charlie (Charles), and I'm 20 weeks pregnant with a baby girl.

My husband wants to name her Charlotte with the nickname "Lottie." However, I can't get past the idea that Charlotte is the female version of Charles. I keep telling him it would be like naming our kids Henry and Henrietta.

So... Charlie and Lottie...Charles and Charlotte.... is it weird? Do you like those names together?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
WritingMumm · 03/09/2026 10:20

Charlotte is the only name you definitely shouldn’t choose if you’ve got a Charles already. Your DH is bonkers!

ToadRage · 03/09/2026 10:23

Definitely weird and incredibly unimaginative, much like someone i knew whose twins were Milly and Molly.

NoEligibilityRequirementsApply · 03/09/2026 10:26

This might sound strange and I'm not sure why I feel it, but I think that if girls are named the female version of their brother's name it feels like their parents thought of them as a 'lesser' child if that makes sense. They are an appendage to the brother. I went to school with twins Martin and Martina and that was always how I felt about it. I KNOW this might well be my issue, but that's my interpretation.

Cantthinkofanewusernameffs · 03/09/2026 10:27

Every Charlotte I know was called Charlie/Charley. They hated Lottie as a nickname.

DearlyDiego · 03/09/2026 10:27

I know siblings called Antony and Antoinette.

I also know siblings called (name changed for obvious reasons, but similar) -
Paul David Brown & David Paul Brown

In both cases, I assume their parents didn't care enough about them to think for more than 2 minutes about what to call their kids.

Raptors · 03/09/2026 10:29

Other than calling her Charlie it's literally the only other name you can't call her. It's completely weird and I can't think of any reason he'd chose it. He sounds quite immature to be honest.

Dogfishy · 03/09/2026 10:30

Silly

wandawaves · 03/09/2026 10:34

No, that's weird.

welshpolarbear · 03/09/2026 10:44

When they say pick your battles, this is one to win!

idkbroidk · 03/09/2026 10:56

idk why everyone else is so against it, i love charlie & lottie!!! so cute!!!

ByTipsyShark · 03/09/2026 10:57

WritingMumm · 03/09/2026 10:20

Charlotte is the only name you definitely shouldn’t choose if you’ve got a Charles already. Your DH is bonkers!

I know of someone with a Charlie and Milly (Camilla)

FrankAbagnalesLies · 03/09/2026 10:59

Don't do it

TrunkElliot · 03/09/2026 11:06

It's giving Royal Family weird vibes...

BirdLandedonmyHead · 03/09/2026 11:09

Irlts very close to Charlie and Lola (its a childrens TV programme.

GingerLeopard · 03/09/2026 11:11

You could maybe get away with calling her just Lottie on her birth certificate as her given name, but no you couldn't have Charles and Charlotte, it sounds silly.

honeylulu · 03/09/2026 11:17

Technically they are male and female versions of the same name. However to me they don't sound that similar, one has a ch sound and one has a sh sound. Charles and Lottie don't sound alike at all. Though as a poster said, if both wanted Charlie as a diminutive that would be very confusing!

You wouldn't be the only person to give your kids variations of the same name. I know two sisters called Natalie and Natasha and two other sisters called Elizabeth and Isabella. Both mothers were totally oblivious. But it was fine, no one died! Or particularly cared!

BrezhnevsLuxuriantEyebrows · 03/09/2026 11:19

You'd have to be prepared for everybody whom they meet for the rest of their lives (even after you're both gone, the reputation will continue - it will be your defining characteristic for anybody who didn't know you closely), and who discovers that you had two children and called them both the 'same' name, to do a double-take and assume that you're both utterly stupid and completely lacking in any imagination or reasoning ability whatsoever.

It's peculiar enough when you get a married couple called Michael & Michelle or Philip and Philippa or whatever, but at least that was nobody's fault and could never have been foreseen when they were named as babies by their respective parents.

Tryagain26 · 03/09/2026 11:26

Yes it's strange. You might always call her Lottie bit when she is at school she might be known as Charlie and then you will have two Charlie's!
Think of another name. There are a lot of nice girls names.

IaltagDhubh · 03/09/2026 11:30

Charlotte is a bloody awful name. You can’t walk down the street for falling over 3 year old Charlottes. Lottie is a crime against names and against any poor child saddled with it. Charles will inevitably become Charlie, so that means that Charlotte wouldn’t have that as an option when she realises how awful her own name is. Don’t do it to her, op.

Before any mums of Charlottes get offended, I’m allowed to say this, I am a Charlotte too. To be honest, I’d probably quite like the name if it wasn’t my own!

roshi42 · 03/09/2026 11:31

I was going to say the same as a pp - the Ch and Sh sounds are quite different despite them being the ‘same name’. And Lottie is totally different. Charlie and Lottie is okay - and other than you saying what your children are called, they’ll rarely be known together, at school or later in life. I don’t think it’s the worst idea!

StandingDeskDisco · 03/09/2026 12:31

If he is dead set on Lottie as a nick name, how about Loretta as the full name?

angelcake20 · 03/09/2026 12:58

It would be really peculiar. Charlotte is my favourite name and I didn’t use it as my name begins with the same letter and is too similar.

newnamefor2026 · 03/09/2026 13:22

A woman I know has done this and I think it is ridiculous. I don’t understand how that was the only name they could come up with for their daughter.

TheOnlyWayIsIlford · 03/09/2026 13:24

I think it would be very weird and a bit demoralising for younger sister Charlotte.

Charlotte is a great name, and as a feminine version has the advantage over many others as it doesn't sound like a diminutive.

But Charles and Charlotte are ridiculous.

And you can't dictate shortened names after they are about 11. She may much prefer Charlie. And her options shouldn't be curtailed.

TheOnlyWayIsIlford · 03/09/2026 13:26

Charlie (of Charlie and Lola) has a friend Lotta