To wonder why so many posts on baby name threads ask for names that match siblings

[Witchofzog]

I have always been baffled by this. If you like a child's name then does it really matter if it "goes" with a siblings name? After all the child, when it goes to school, will be known by its own name anyway. Does it matter if you have Freddy and Freya or Freddy and Imogen? Providing you like both names stand alone?

No one?

Since you'll be referring to them as a pair for much of their childhood and beyond, I can see how it would matter.

For example, you wouldn't call a sister and brother Edward and Edwina, even if you liked both names separately.

It's about style and register too. You wouldn't have a Tarquin and a Lee [insert other stereotypical "class" names here], presumably.

I have asked this question to match the style. Not to go to together but for people to suggest names of my taste.

Well, you'll spend the best part of the next two decades screaming out those names on a daily basis, so you may as well make them sound nice, rather than shouting Jedediah and Hildenburg all the time.

Because people want a picture perfect life.

I matched mine up a little so they didn’t sound odd said together. More in how they go together, not the same letter or anything

Because its nice to do it but really doesn't matter if you don't do it.

I like names that are similar in style, as I think it would be wierd to have a "Bob" then an "Echo" .

I like using all same letter, but not done this myself.

My way of matching names, is to have a double letter, so my future son could be Atticus, Pippin or Jerry.

I know of siblings Samuel (shortened to Sam) and an Ella.
Both perfectly lovely names in their own right. Said together however.....

I always wonder about this. Kids names don't have to match. And I very rarely listed my kids names one after the other so relent don't get it.

I frequent the baby name section and I often see people giving sibling names as it gives an idea of what they like? It's not about having matching sib-sets so to speak.

That said some names just don't "go" together? Some can be too similar (Aaron and Erin for example) and some can be too different (Grayson and Mark for example)

I have all mine individual names because I grew up with a matchy name sibling and we sound like a 1960’s comedy duo.

When I call him and say “you alright Harry, it’s Carrie”, I feel like a top moron. (Not our names, and they don’t rhyme anyway, but you get the gist!)

Because it does sound a bit odd if you have, say, a Charlotte and a Charlie, or a Harry and a Harriet.

I don't think it's about them matching, it's just it sounds strange if you have two children with near-identical names.

Why does it even matter to you what people call their kids, or if they want them to go? Why does it impact your life to such an extent that you need to write a thread about it?

The only issue about "matching" that I think can be slightly odd is when one sibling has an old fashioned name, and the other has a very modern/quirky name. Obviously, it doesn't really matter, but I've always found it a bit odd.

My friend has two children, one with a name from her husband’s Southern European culture and the other has a name more commonly known as a surname in English. Similar to Pedro and Taylor (not their real names). She says people comment on it all the time, but she and her husband just liked the names and “Pedro” is her FIL’s name anyway. So I had never really thought about it but it is clearly a comment-worthy thing for a lot of people

I dont think names need to match but they do need to be of the same sort of style and tone otherwise you end up like a group of siblings at DC school who are named Amadala, Katniss, Trinity, and Jane (not their real names but the three girls have very unusual sci-fi inspired names and the youngest sibling has a very normal name).

I knew of siblings at school where the three girls had rhyming names (like Betty, Hetty and Letty). Their brother was called a name similar to John.

*Not their real names obviously.

Don't think they need to match but some names clash or just sound awful together. I also know of a Samuel shortened to Sam with a sister called Ella. It's awful!

I suppose we thought about if they didn't sound odd together -DH always comments if names seem to come from a different "shelf" of the name store (think Phoenix and Albert) but realistically it doesn't matter. They'll be referred to together in childhood and maybe by close family later, but soon they'll know many many people who barely know their sibling.

Think of Jacob Rees Mogg's poor children: Peter Theodore Alphege, Thomas Wentworth Somerset Dunstan, Anselm Charles Fitzwilliam, Alfred Wulfric Leyson Pius, Sixtus Dominic Boniface Christopher... and the one girl, Mary Anne Charlotte Emma!

a woman i know has two older children called jamie and amie (spelt that way), and then two younger children called oliver and olivia. another woman i know has a daughter called romany and a son called roman. i think these take matching names to another level! 😂

It's a shorthand way of indicating the kind of names you like: I called my children Gerald, Aloysius and Jemima, so what might I like to call the next one.

If one kid was "Narcissus Tabitha" and the other was "Fred", it would be a little odd.

It’s about type of name. If you have a Ben, you likely will like other names that match like Sam and Jack and Daniel. So you ask about names that match your taste not your other child. That’s what people mean.

A former colleague of mine had an Olivia and an Oliver