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

Sorry, the alias name thing was going on at the beginning of the 19th century. I'm not a historian; I've been looking into a particular set of events for my blog.

I used to work with someone who had a subsistent half brother with the same name.

The whole family had ishoos.

Henry VIII notwithstanding, this is completely bonkers.

this thread is making me happy :)

Happened to a family I knew.

Two sons ended up with the same name, so they were given nicknames and in the end neither ended up with their original name.

a "subsistent half brother "

qu'est-ce que c'est?

Glad you asked, Lovelyideas.

Michael Smurfitt (Irish tycoon) has done this. Had a son, Michael with his first wife. Divorced and remarried. had another son named Michael with his second wife. I think it's one of the most egotistical things I've ever heard of.

Liam is a name in its own right in Ireland. It is accepted as being the Irish for William.

a "subsistent half brother "

I read this as "subsequent" but had to do a double-take

flurtygirl, thanks for clearing that up. I was mistaken in thinking that Muhammad was their religious name, rather than their 'ordinary' name 😃

Michael Smurfitt (Irish tycoon) has done this. Had a son, Michael with his first wife. Divorced and remarried. had another son named Michael with his second wife. I think it's one of the most egotistical things I've ever heard of.

It may well leave Michael Number 1 (2?) wondering if he'd been replaced.

I know someone whose dad left when he was a baby, never to be seen again, until he turned up online when the boy was in his 30s. The dad had a new family and had another son with the same name. It wasn't the dad's name, either. The lad was quite hurt when he found out.

I taught a family, as a student teacher, who were Michael, Michaela, Michelle and Mickey. None of them realised they had the same name.

King John twice named sons Richard - one illegitimate, one legitimate, and two daughters called Joan, again one legitimate and one not. His wife Isabelle d'Angouleme had two legitimate daughters called Isabella. John's father Henry had two sons called Geoffrey.

I know someone with an Emily and an Eilidh, sounds very similar to my ears too!

I was coincidentally told of a family today. woman married a Bob (have changed name) who already had a son Bob. They had a child together and called him Bob. She and her husband divorced. She remarried, and you'll guess what his name was . . . .

A book we (the DCs and I) read about Nelson said that when Emma* Hamilton had his illegitimate daughter, she suggested calling it Emma after herself, but this was a no-no apparently as she had already had a DD she called Emma that she had given away.

So they called the baby Horatia. x 2. Especially as they thought about claiming it was someone else's baby they were looking after out of the kindness of their hearts. Yeh. Called Horatia. Yeh, people will buy that!

• Her real name was Amy though which I only found out a couple of days ago.

Liam can be short for William . You learn something new everyday.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Roger Federer's twins, Lenny and Leo. Both those names are diminutives of Leonard .

I vaguely know a family where the dad was John and both his sons are also John. The dad was known as Jack though and I think the sons may be half brothers as there's a big age gap between them.

And not quite the same, but my Dh has the same name as his dad and with both our sons Dh wanted to reuse this name . It's confusing enough with 2 of them in the family, I really couldn't cope with 4!

I've just read this and sparechange it made me sad that your post wasn't acknowledged. I think it's very easy to "judge" people in a situation like that (no need for the disturbing comment though) but completely different when you're actually in it. I'm sorry for your loss

I worked with a woman who had been adamant that she was going to call her first daughter after her Granny. She then married a man who already had a daughter called Elizabeth* who lived with him and the woman I worked with. They then had a baby girl who she insisted would be called Elizabeth and at age 11 the older Elizabeth became known in the family as Lilly (she wasn't allowed to choose Eliza or Beth as shortenings). The woman I worked with is now a widow and she truly cannot understand why her stepdaughter stated that she didn't feel wanted in her house and chose to live with her grandparents after her father's death.

I know a man who picked out his son's name, eg James, because it was v special to him/he loved it. Sadly when James was born he had complex special needs , and the father could not handle the situation at all, so much so that he and his wife parted.
He married again and had another son. Two guesses as to what he named him, insisted on it in fact, as this was the 'proper' James. Exwife and and first James were devastated.

I once worked with a total shit man who had an affair with a lady at our work having told people him and his wife had split up. Both women got pregnant. Both found out about each other and binned him off. Both had babies and independently called them Jake. Don't know if it's hilarious or tragic.

Sparechange I truly hope you get to use the name.

How is it allowed that someone can use the same name four times? .

Did I ever tell you that Mrs. McCave
Had twenty-three sons and she named them all Dave?
Well, she did. And that wasn’t a smart thing to do.
You see, when she wants one and calls out, “Yoo-Hoo!
Come into the house, Dave!” she doesn’t get one.
All twenty-three Daves of hers come on the run!

My father is Irish and is called William. Everyone on the mainland calls him Bill. Everyone in Ireland calls him Liam.