Niece 'stealing' my son's name!

[FreddyJohn]

I see similar situations on here a could of times lately and figured I'd post as there doesn't seem to be any that's exact to this and it often borderlines on U or not on these threads so just wondering.

My son is Frederick Jonathan. He goes by Freddie and is 5.

My niece is naming her little boy (due in 3 days) Freddy John.

A lot of our family is still very close and see each other once a month. AIBU to think this is a bit copy cat? No family names either.

But the names aren't the same. Freddy will be his full first name, your sons name is Frederick, with Freddie as a nickname. And her sons middle name will be John, your sons middle name is Jonathan, which is a completely different name, same as if it were girls named Ann and Analise.

Did her partner/baby's dad have any say in the name? Is Freddy or John a family name on his side?

Who knows what nickname her son will end up with, there's no saying he will go by "Freddy" day to day.

Does she even know your sons middle name? She's your neice, i have no idea what any of my cousins middle names are so theres a good chance she has no idea what your sons middle name is either and it's a complete coincidence the middle names will be similar.

As for the first name, you don't get "dibs" on a name, she might have LOVED that name her entire life and never saw herself naming a son anything else, and it was just coincidence you also loved the name above all others for your own son. for example, IF by some miracle i ever had a son (infertility and a bunch of hereditary stuff i could pass on so i wouldn't risk it) i would name him Leo. There are a few other names i really like, but Leo is the only one that sounds "right" and perfect and that i definitely love above all others. I wouldn't change that and name him something else if some family member suddenly had a kid and called him Leo, or named a pet cat that.

Maybe it's a name she only realised she liked so much after you using it for your son.

It could also be she majorly looks up to you and its a flattering form of admiration.

Surely you solve this issue by ensuring everyone gets into the habit of calling him Little Fred. Or as a PP suggested Freddie 2

I don't understand the rush to tell a poster that they don't have a copyright on a name. They are not about to sue the imposter!

In real life I think these instances would have everyone raising eyebrows.
If my sister/ niece/ close friend happily told me they were using the names of my children I would find it beyond bizarre.

There are countless name possibilities, why wouldn't you just choose one of them?

We have loads of name repeating around our family. It's no big deal. There's "Big This" , "Young That".
It's your niece not your conjoined twin. Maybe she just likes the name.

Freddy 2
Freddy Junior
Freddy Minor
Mini Freddy

Little Freddy

Once a month isn't much.

Not like you see them daily.

I'm with OP on this one. There are millions of names to choose from.

I've got two cousins with the same name, born the same year, both families emigrated to Australia. I don't remember anyone agonising over it, both got shortened so for example if the name was Michael one was always known as Mick and one as Mike.

I wasn't on the other thread, where the poster's sister had copied both her DC's names. This is less egregious than that, but.....well, it's still pretty odd and I'd be rather nonplussed too.

Back before "furrin" names when everyone was Rose or John and you also had massive families of 11 children, do you think people freaked out if one of their 30 cousins was called John?

No.

Brighter if those names is particularly unique either op, he should get used to meeting ither freds and Johns. I think generally children think it's nice sharing a name with cousins.

I have a first cousin with First name and surname same as mine. That is/was a very common occurrence in Ireland in the 70's 80's we just got on with it.

I have three first cousins all the same first name surname same as my Grandfather.

I suppose life has changed since then but you do just get on with it.

My son has the same first name and surname as his Uncle although we did ask first. I suppose it does show a lack of imagination but we just loved the name. Still do.

Names can't be stolen but it does show a lack of imagination on her part.

It's totally weird. It's not like Frederick/Freddie/Freddy is a common name, and the combination is quite unusual.

Get a grip! Who cares??
I can't see any way how this would be a problem. It might cause the odd muddle 'Freddie, do you want a drink' 'No not you the other Freddie', but in the whole scheme of things that's not really a non problem.
That name has been around a lot longer that you or your DS

'Oh wow that's lovely! Seeing as we already have a Freddie, we can call him Fredlet! How cute is that!'

'No way, he is Freddy!'

'Aw sorry niece but you know how it is, you can't dictate with names you know! I mean, if there were rules about this then we'd be stopping you using Freddy wouldn't we? You'll just have to be cool about it like us, soz baby' (wink)

What do you do, op , if there is another child in the same class as Freddy .... called Freddy?
You see them more often and it's more likely to cause mild confusion and/or a mix up.

I really couldn't care unless the name is genuinely quite unique. Freddy is not. My brother bob had a cousin bob. My mum Sarah has a niece Sarah. No one cares; if anything it's a compliment (although chances are your Freddie never crossed their mind).
(* not their real names)

Do you have royalties on that name? if not she can call her son anything she likes x

My uncle's name is John Frederick.

How is this any different to the Madison/Maddison thread where the niece wanted to use her cousin's name? And she was older!

Freddy John/Frederick Jonathan really isn't that common.

Nobody owns a name. And with a five year age gap nobody will care.

Someone traced the family tree on ex mil's side, turned out quite a few children died young back then, and often it was common for the mother to be pregnant at the time. And it was also the norm to give the new baby the same name as the deceased one.

So times have changed...

I think it's a bit weird. There's loads of other possible names out there.

Oh, I'm glad we found out who owns the name 'Freddie', I'd always wondered.

There are families where the oldest son always has the same first name, then each generation is known by their middle name. Simply refer to her son as John, as you don't want to mix the two children up and your son was Freddie long before hers.

If her father / beloved uncle was Freddy or John I could understand it. Otherwise it's a bit off. Yes she can name her son this, doesn't mean that she should. maybe it's turn out to be a mis-identified girl

The closeness of the ages could make for a little confusion in a tight knit family so it's not something I would have done myself. But they are different generations so I think you should just treat it as an honour and as though she's named him after your DS.