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

When I was at university one of the porters was called James. He had four sons all called different versions of the name James: Jacques, Jamie, Seamus & Jago (or similar)

He was every bit the egotistical twat that this action would suggest.

I know a family where the dad remarried, had a daughter called Jane not really from first marriage, second wife refused to call their child anything except Jane as she loved the name so much, so he has 2 daughters with the same name. I thought this was hellish weird, but the family don't think it's odd at all

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."

I didn't learn this until I was 61 - five minutes ago

Brilliant discovery that "Fitz" means illegitimate child of.

When did surnames get set in stone? I mean, I know we can change them at will in the UK - but when did Baker, say, become the name of all John the baker's descendants rather than their own surnames being Johnson, Bakerson, Brewer and Farmer according to their life trajectories?

Shall we not base our historical knowledge on a Phillipa Gregory novel...?

Saucer of milk for table 2?

Google Henry Carey. Lots of historians believe he was the illegitimate son of Henry VIII.

No matter.

I stated in my first post that Henry VIII had a number of sons named Henry. There's loads of eye roll-y posts telling me that he didn't have any sons, except for one named Edward.

Well, he had three sons who were not still born who were named Henry. Two died in infancy, it's true.

I don't know about you, but if I were the sibling of a child who died in infancy, and with whom I shared a name, I would be somewhat affected by that. As I would be by a sharing a name with a living sibling.

My friend's ex did this. Abandoned her and their DD when the DD was 3. Had no contact with his DD for years. When she was 16 she looked him up and re-established contact, only to find out he and his new wife had since had another daughter with the same name, and was still just as much of an irresponsible idiot as he was 13 years earlier .

Sanity, naming a subsequent child after one who died was actually the norm until late Victorian times. We tend to forget it was usual for children to die young - this was a way of marking their existence.

I do get that Garlic.

I'm just somewhat bemused that I made a statement about Henry VIII, and because everyone thinks they know all about him, and how he "couldn't have sons", it has been dismissed as just something I learnt from a novel.

Anyhoo, I imagine Henry VIII named all those boys Henry because he was a megalomaniac, rather than for any sentimental (and understandable) reason of not wanting them to be forgotten.

To answer questions I remembered - they are referred to as Bob 1 and Bob 2 - both still alive and in contact with each other and the father. Both born in same decade (70s) but I've no idea if wife 2 was never made aware of wife 1
It's not cultural that I'm aware, they're in the west of Scotland.

I school friend's uncle had the same first and surname after his stepdad adopted him postwar. It wasn't like a donald mcdonald type name either. He was named after a colour!

Yeah - some folks may as well name all their kids MiniMe The First, Second, etc

When did surnames get set in stone? I mean, I know we can change them at will in the UK - but when did Baker, say, become the name of all John the baker's descendants rather than their own surnames being Johnson, Bakerson, Brewer and Farmer according to their life trajectories?

In England it was about 1600 I think? Increased administration and social mobility mainly.

User576 mohammed is not asigned to muslim men, they have a choice and its always been a popular one but more popular last 30/40 years with immigration and wanting to keep links with home, culture and religion.
I personally think piety too as growing up there were a few but now loads of boys are named mohammed.

Any name repeated too much in a family is boring and lacks imagination.

So far as I understand it, surnames are from the Normans so 1066 onwards as a gradual process (maybe 200 years?). By 1400 or so the custom was fixed. The Welsh kept their patronyms a good while longer but by the Act of Union in the mid 1500s (that outlawed the language in the business of state) they were on the way out too. They are a convention of taxes and property and law so as those developed in reach and complexity.

But yes, we can still actually just use any name we like in England (idk about Scotland).

Another one who didn't know of the William/Liam thing and I thought I knew all sorts of stuff.

So far as I understand it, surnames are from the Normans so 1066 onwards

The French mania for bureaucracy comes from the Normans ... Domesday book etc.

I have literally written a novel about this. Details here: amzn.to/2aO8dDB

It caused a lot of problems in my fictional blended family. The solution was
A) get kidnapped by evil magical force
B) use nicknames

William=Liam!??
Nooooooo? Surely not? Think my brain is hurting now!

I think Mohammed is like the Rc Mary anne etc or Jesus thats quite popular in the americas

My cousin and her half sister have the same name, spelt the same way (there are a few variations) and neither have changed their surnames either. Of all the names in the world to choose, my aunt and uncle apparently couldn't think of a single one, other than the name of his daughter from his first marriage, who he'd left to run off with my aunt! It must have made the elder girl feel like they'd replaced her

I knew a boy called Monserate, his dad and his little brother from his dad's second marriage were also called Monserate. His dad was Monserate he was Monsy and his little brother was Monty.

My son's best friend who is 6 is John Victor and his little brother, 3 is John Peter. Their father's name is John. There is a girl in the year above my daughter who is Mary Louisa and her sister in the year below my daughter is Mary Cecilia. They all go by their second names.

None of those families are English though, all are Latin American so it is probably less of a thing but I find it odd.

Nathan is short for Jonathan. SHiT I've lived 40 years without knowing this and yet it is so obvious! I'm scared I might fall over or combust or something now!

I know an Andrew and an Andy

I know a family with four kids and they have really similar names. Two girls with almost identical names - think Emma Louise and Emily Louisa and the boys, like William and Liam. One of the daughters has children of her own now and her two daughters have similar names and the same middle name. I always thought it was a bit weird, but maybe they just really really don't like any other names!

I know a man in his eighties who had a half brother

Who had same father and they were both called Michael

I've got a friend whose twin boys are called Christian and Christopher so naturally they're both known as Chris. I think maybe she just wanted an easy life knowing that both would then answer if she called them

Thanks, Lolo and Hedda. Some discrepancy there, but I can imagine customs spreading very slowly both geographically and down the social scale. Some of the histories from my little town suggest that many people had two names - their formal one, got by conventional means - and an informal one that reflected their character or trade. They seem to have been recorded by local magistrates & registrars under either name: confusing!