Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Chat

Join the discussion and chat with other Mumsnetters about everyday life, relationships and parenting.

Do your children look alike? Do you look like your siblings?

105 replies

thebeautifulsky · 13/04/2026 08:25

Having had a family get together recently, my niece got us thinking. She said we (her aunts and uncles) looked quite different but when we were together, she could sort of tell we were related. For information, me and my siblings are different heights, builds, hair colour etc. We definately share the same parents.

My DC also are quite different in personality and looks too as are my DGC.

Just interested really.

OP posts:
Confusedmermaid1 · 13/04/2026 08:30

My sister and I don’t look alike, I take after my dad and she takes after my mum. I’m pale, ginger, slimmer and shorter. She is tall, tans easily, darker hair and has always been bigger (but she wears it very well, it’s not a criticism). My daughter has been mistaken for her child several times 😂 she’s only 12 weeks but the resemblance to my sister as a child is uncanny.
Strangely, my cousin looks more like my mum than my aunt but my mum and aunt are more similar than me and my sister.

Weeelokthen · 13/04/2026 08:31

Myself and 2 siblings do not look alike, at all. My 2 ds look nothing like each other either

OneTimeThingToday · 13/04/2026 08:33

When younger, people struggled to say which of my DDs it was when they saw them separately... but found it really obvious when they were together. To the extent that ones friends would approach the other, start talking and realise it was the wrong one.

Contrarymary30 · 13/04/2026 08:33

All 4 of mine are very dark haired and eyes , I'm reddish hair with green eyes . 2 are over 6 ft. 2 are 5. 7 . I'm 5 ft! I look like my sister and mum . My kids have nothing of me in looks . All boys .

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 13/04/2026 08:33

Don’t have DC but look like my sibling. Dark blonde hair and blue eyes, similar height. Similar faces. DB’s children facially they look alike but one is blue eyed blond like his dad and other is brown hair brown eyes like his mum.

KatyN · 13/04/2026 08:35

People have stopped me in the street to say how similar my children look to each other. And how obvious they are mine and my husbands because we all look so similar.

i knew both points already. Each time (really more than once) it is quite hard to respond

GlovedhandsCecilia · 13/04/2026 08:36

We are similar in that when we are all together, you see a family resemblance between all of us. We all look a bit like both of our parents.

My kids all have different complexions despite me and their dad having pretty much the same complexion. They all look like either me or him.

ShanghaiDiva · 13/04/2026 08:36

My dcs do not look alike, but one looks like me (could be twins when looking at photos of me at the same age) and one looks like Dh.

Gonnagetgoingreturnsagain · 13/04/2026 08:36

What is very spooky is dad of mine and DB had 2 other sons from first and third marriage. Last marriage was to a Cypriot woman so son is dark hair hazel eyes. But all boys have the look of their dad, down to facial expressions, features and hand gestures. DB didn’t even grow up with his dad but still has it. Freaky. Sibling Girls in family don’t have it.

My older half brother is uncannily like his dad in looks. Dad now long dead.

massistar · 13/04/2026 08:37

DD looks so much like older DS that she regularly gets asked if she’s his sister by people she doesn’t know. They’re like 2 peas in a pod!

Toomanysocksonthedancefloor · 13/04/2026 08:37

I look nothing like my brother.
But I look like my step sister

Its so weird and there's a huge age gap as well!

Holymotherforkingshirtballs · 13/04/2026 08:37

My two look nothing alike. I'm very like one of my sisters but not the other.

Grumpynan · 13/04/2026 08:38

My children are so alike it’s scary. DH has often said he looks fir himself in them but it’s not there, they are all like my mum, particularly my DD who is a real mini me just as I’m my mums mini.

my siblings (I had 7 brothers) all looked alike apart from 1, mum called him her changing . He is so like dad but the rest of us are like mum. Strangely as we get older my brothers have started to look like my dad was when he was old ( we are all 50 - 60 now ) but we all still look alike,

garlictwist · 13/04/2026 08:38

My eldest daughter (10) is very petite, tiny feet, very curly hair. My younger (8) is taller than the eldest with bigger feet and poker straight hair. They couldn't be more different.

OldHattie · 13/04/2026 08:42

Hmmm I don't think we do look all that alike. My mum was olive skinned with brown eyes and very curly, medium brown hair. My dad is quite dark skinned but blue eyes and very dark hair. I seem to have inherited my granny's colouring which is very very pale, blue eyes and blonde hair! My brother is blonde with darker skin and grey eyes, our baby sister (no longer a baby but a grown woman) is darker skinned, brown eyes and very dark curly hair.

We share similar features though, like big eyes and small noses. Both of our parents were quite a strong build, so broad shoulders but slim legs. We have all inherited that. My brother and I are tall and our sister is quite petite.

I married a very slim, tall, fair haired, more olive skinned man and our son has inherited his skin tone with dark blonde hair and is quite barrell chested but I cannot really tell what build he will be yet. Our daughter has inherited my very pale skin and light blonde hair, but her eyes are green (and a really amazing colour - but I may be biased)! She has inherited my husband's family's willowiness but isn't going as tall as I am I don't think.

FuzzyBumbleeBee · 13/04/2026 08:47

I don't look anything like either of my parents but am very similar in looks to paternal dgm
Lots of people we all walk dogs with locally had no idea we were related for years until dc called dm nanny

As kids my brother and I were incredibly similar looking, I'm overweight now so don't look similar anymore but if I slimmed down we'd still be very obvious siblings

My dc look totally different from each other
Dd1 looks like her dad's paternal dgm and a bit like her ddad
Dd2 looks like my dm with different colour hair

PenPaperIdeas · 13/04/2026 08:51

I look like I am adopted into the family as everyone else looks alike and I am the polar opposite, think brown hair brown eyed vs platinum blonde hair blue eyes. My two children are a mix of Dh and me and both our families but do not look like brothers at all.

LegoLandslide · 13/04/2026 08:52

Dsis and I often get asked if we're identical twins (we aren't!)

DD is my exact Image and we all look just like my mum. DS looks like my dad.

Nobody looks like DH. He must have weak genes . . .

Iocanepowder · 13/04/2026 08:55

Yes i look like my brother and my kids look very alike. Same eyes, same hair colour, same mouth.

ToddlerIs2 · 13/04/2026 08:56

I have identical twins who are definitely identical although therrs small differences - 2 cm in height consistently, slightly different face shape. Personalities always been different. One is better at maths. One can concentrate better but also can't sit still more (they're 6). I've walked, talked and teethed first and is now on wobbly tooth 2 whilst other has all milk teeth. I find is fascinating.

Older sob def shares similarities and personality wise, it's like they took half and half.

Twins have my eyes and all three been told they look like me. One looks identical to a cousin in a photo but cousin told he looks like his Dad (my BIL). Husband looks so much like his Dad, his Mom swears there's nothing of her in him.
My older sibling looks like our Maternal side, middle sis like paternal side and I'm a mix of both.

Genetics are weird

Octavia64 · 13/04/2026 08:57

No and no,

my twins were in the same class at high school for some subjects and even with the same last bake some teachers did not realise they were related.

TheCurious0range · 13/04/2026 08:59

I didn't think I looked like my brother until I ran my photo through that app that shows you what you'd look like as a man, then I was essentially just looking at my brother (with more hair). I got on a bus once as a teenager and the driver said which surname brother do you belong to? My dad is one of 7 brothers and they all look alike 3 of them including my dad have often been mistaken for triplets. So I'm guessing my dad's genetics are pretty strong!

ETA DS looks exactly like DH but with my fair complexion, blue eyes and red hair it's like looking at DH if the colour faded

Echobelly · 13/04/2026 09:00

I look a lot like my brother, to the point someone who knew me met him at a party and asked if I was his sister! We both take after mum's mum. Not so much like my sister, who takes after my paternal grandma

I was convinced my kids will would come out looking like DH somehow, but oldest actually looks like my dad and his late sister (who I take after slightly so there's a line of resemblance between them and me) and DS is a real half way between me and DH.
Some people's immediate reaction to him is that he looks just like DH, and others that he's a clone of me, and somehow they are both right. Both kids have same colouring as MIL and SIL and look similar to one another, but not the same. They're clearly siblings - it's been more obvious since DS grew his hair longer so you can see the similar hair texture

Savvysix1984 · 13/04/2026 09:01

I regularly get asked if me and my sister are twins. This has happened several times a year for 10-15 years. There’s 7 years age difference.

I’ve only one dc so nothing to compare too but she does look similar to some of her cousins.

Celiathebanshee · 13/04/2026 09:07

My three all have different colouring and I don’t think anybody would mix them up but there is no mistaking the fact they are siblings, and they also resemble their cousins. My sister and I are often asked if we are twins (we do not dress the same!) even though she is inches taller