Similar names for cousins

[BrushtheHeat]

Sil and bil (dh's sister and her husband) are having their third dc. We were discussing names and they said they wanted Meredith for a girl. I think it's a beautiful name. I'm also upset because our DD (5yrs) is named Edith and they are far too similar for my liking. Dh says he's unhappy with their choice too.
Wwbu if we told them how we feel about them being too similar? I feel strongly enough about it to not be too worried about the fall out of such a conversation, but from an outsiders view, awbu to feel annoyed at the similarity between the names? We're a close family and socialise a fair bit. If they weren't close I could shrug it off. But we are and it will grate everytime I hear the name.

Meredith = MEH-ruh-dith
Edith = EE-dith

They only have one, unstressed syllable in common. It's like saying Ella and Arabella are too similar for cousins.

YABU, I'm afraid!

How would your dd "lose her name," if her cousin had a similar one? Or even if she had exactly the same one? How would that mean the one who had it first "loses" it? That's just a misrepresentation of reality.

It makes no sense to me when people get upset about other people naming their children whatever they damn well please. You got to choose whatever name you wanted your child to have, and they get to do the same. It has nothing to do with you. If the two cousins are close growing up, so what? My brother shares a name with a cousin on each side of the family, and we were all close growing up. Never caused a second's bother to anyone.

But in your case, this is all a moot point anyway, because Edith and Meredith are completely different names. They're about as similar as Richard (Rick) and Frederick.

I'm sorry but it's not only unreasonable but incredibly self centred that you'd bother your BIL/SIL with this silliness and create drama out of nothing during what should be a happy time for them.

I'm sitting here saying them out loud and unless I have been saying Meredith wrong (I don't think I am, I've only ever heard it pronounced one way) they don't sound the same to me. I would never make a connection between them.

YABU. They are completely separate names. When you say Meredith it sounds totally different to Edith, with the emphasis on different syllables. You are being precious.

My DS has a name that has similarities to my nephew's name, (think Robert/Roderick or Ellie/Emily) but they are completely different and one is not a version of the other. It has caused no issues whatsoever apart from when they are in the same room and we call them we sometimes get muddled up as to which one we are saying, but that's all.

having said that, between our husbands, kids, nieces and nephews and both families' two dogs we get muddled up anyway, and anyone just answers to anything.

This is a joke isn't it? They're different names and pronounced differently too. You're being silly and precious.

My sister had the same name as one of our cousins which was the same name as one of my Godmothers. We all coped. To distinguish in conversation the cousin was known as Cousin Y, the Godmother as Auntie Y and my sister just as Y. I think yabu op.

No one has exclusive rights to a name! I really don't understand all this angst.

Firstly you have no claim on any word.

Your dd won't lose her name because a younger cousin has a name spelt slightly similar.

Meredith is not pronounced Mer-E-dith. When pronounced they sound very different. How they sound is far more important in everyday life.

So even if a similar name was something to be upset about, most people will not even notice.

YABU and a bit mad. They are different names but even if they were exactly the same name you would still BU because it really doesn't matter or take away from what your daughter is called.

Completely different names.

I don't even think it would be an issue if they wanted to call their kid the same name as yours - cousins or not, a name can be used by anyone.

Our daughters (cousins) have VERY similar sounding names, derivatives of Catherine, and it never even occurred to be until ours was about 3 and FIL called her by the other name on the phone. We don't see them, DH is pretty much minimal contact with his family so it really doesn't bother us.

We chose a name we like. Names are not unique, we don't have a monopoly on them so I can't see a problem with it.

Even if they wanted to give their baby exactly the same name, you wouldn't be able to stop them. Nobody but the parents get a say in what name their baby is going to have!

I knew cousins who had the same first name, same last name and were in the same year at school.

A non issue IMO.

I know cousins Caitlin and Cayden, much more similar, and cousins Emily and Bromily. No problems anywhere!

It'll probably be shortened to Merry, anyway. I doubt if anyone will notice any similarity.

Ok, thanks for the input everyone. As far as I'm concerned the discussion is over as I've conceded that the names are different and that iwbu.
No need to throw around words like precious etc!
Can we stop acting like I haven't admitted iwbu as you're all a bit late to the party at this stage and really have nothing to add to the discussion other than to create drama where now there isn't any.
Thank you.

To me they are different enough and both totally lovely names.

Wouldn't cross my mind that they're similar! We have an Abby and Addy cousins.

I can see the similarity in the spellings but not the pronunciations. In Edith (beautiful name) the stress is on the E whereas it Meredith you hardly hear the second E.

I wouldn't have connected the two without you pointing it out, I think you may be overthinking it. But baby names are a minefield of emotions.

ok she accepts she was being unreasonable now she doesnt need telling over and over

Aw, I was going to bore on about how my daughter's name is like an amalgam of my niece and nephew's names (brother and sister) and it never occurred to me for ages.