Two sons same name

[Bloopbleep]

I'm not going to give too much detail but a neighbour has just told me both his sons are called (I'm name changing them) Bob Smith. He was married twice so first Bob is son to first wife and he's ten years older than second Bob son to the second wife. Both are alive and in contact.

Is this not a bit strange and unfair to the kids (now grown men)? I can't imagine growing up as Bob1 and feeling replaced completely by Bob2

I was adopted as a child. Looked back at my birth family history only to find that my birthfather called 3 sons by 3 different women ''Samuel''.

He must have really really REALLY liked that name

I know a family with 2 daughters called Elizabeth and Isabelle. Not sure if they realise they are the same name, but in not bringing it up!

My dd and her friend were talking yesterday about a kid called Liam and his brother Willum. They have the same name, just in different languages. To me it would be like calling daughters Mary and Maria.

I have a cousin who has daughters called Jane and Mary. Her sister called her daughter Jane-Mary.

madamginger, I could be wrong but I thought the name Mohammed was more of an expression of being part of the Muslim faith, and that this name is assigned to all Muslim men?

My cousin worked as a social worker in a very poor part of Philadelphia and told me about a woman with three DDs: DD1 was 'James', DD2 was 'Jamesina' and DD3 was 'Semaj'...something to do with a father who refused to put his name on their birth certificates! I really hope it's a true story.
All this Henry 8 business has made this thread feel v highbrow...

SpringerS
I just found that out. That was news to me!

I know a family with 2 daughters called Elizabeth and Isabelle. Not sure if they realise they are the same name, but in not bringing it up!

Really? I had no idea they were the same name.
To be honest I think that these days they both stand alone as separate names.

I wouldn't have had a clue that Elizabeth and Isabelle had the same root.

Liam isn't really something you would associate with a shortened version of William.

DH is a Liam, and would never consider it being short for anything, he doesn't even get using Bill/Billy in place of it.

His shortened name in the family is actually Lee.

I know a couple who have two 8 year old girls called Evie and two 10 year old boys called Jack.
It is a second marriage for both - each bringing an Evie and Jack with them!

My friends, after helping an aged relative out, now have two dogs called Felix. Although, amongst the family, they are Felix One and Felix Two, the dogs themselves get very confused.

From Muslims I know, it seems to be a religious/cultural thing to ask the local Imam to suggest a name for a child, which is the "given" name. They then usually ignore this, and actually use the name they wanted anyway.

From my Dads culture, it's quite similar - quite of few of his friends are not called by their "official" names, but by "everyday" names. It was only when I saw my Dads passport I realised the name he (and everybody else) called him by was his second name.

Liam isn't really something you would associate with a shortened version of William.

I would .

I may be wrong but I thought George Foreman also called his daughter Georgetta.

My granny had five daughters then three baby boys who all died in infancy. All of them were called John. When she eventually had a fourth son she named him Peter and happily he lived.

Since when has Liam been a shortening of William in the UK? I've only ever known it as an Irish name.

It wasn't until I was 30 that I realised "Jacobean" (as in "Jacobean drama") actually meant "in the time of James - i.e. James I/VI.

After that, we had the "Carolingian" (time of Charles) era.

Neither of those tends to be used much though. Seems pre 1688 it was the surname (Tudor, Stuart) then Liam and Mary, then "Gerogian, Victorian, Edwardian". Be interesting to know why .....

I don't think Liam is short for William

Liam isn't really something you would associate with a shortened version of William

It doesn't matter if you think it, its still true!

I know a family of 5 daughters, all called Maria. And a family when I was at school had a Mary, a Maria, and a Mairead.

Our neighbours age Colton and Carlton. I haven't asked about the similarity but suspect they're family names.

DS1 came up with a method of remembering which is which, Colton with the o is older

Not strictly the same as in the OP but I have been doing a bit of family tree digging. So far I have 5 generations of first born sons with the same first names (think William James as an example). Makes it quite complicated as I am having to spreadsheet dates very accurately.

Hedda no it is not, Liam is Liam (DH is an Irish one too)

the George Foreman thing is beyond weird - five living sons all called George!

I didn't know until I went round Hampton Court Palace that Catherine of Aragon gave birth six times. Two stillbirths, two died soon after birth, and Henry, Duke of Cornwall who died at a few weeks old. (the real history-changer). Mary was the only survivor. Unimaginably sad.

Lurkinghusband that is true except that when talking about the Tudor period, historians will break it up by first name as well ie: Henrican (Henry VIII), Edwardian (Edward VI), Marian (Mary) and Elizabethan (Elizabeth I). I guess because there is so much change that you can't really talk about the Tudor church for example.

I suppose you can't really divide the Georgian period up by name of monarch!

I know someone with an Emma and an Emily just think the names are far too similar

I met a lady with twin girls named Heather and Erica. Botanically erica is Latin for heather. When we chatted the mum told me that she chose the names knowing they were the same. She got the idea from someone who go had. Marguerite and. Daisy.