Too similar sibling names

[MyBluntSloth]

My daughter is Charlotte and i am expecting my second, another girl, due in October. Charlotte's middle name is Pearl and the new baby's would be Opal. I really like the name Colette and I think it goes really well with Charlotte with the similar structure but different soundings. I also like the names Chloe and Nicole but I would still strongly prefer Colette over them. Is it too similar?

I can’t shout up the stairs as the way the house is configured my son would never hear me from his bedroom. I text or go up to his room.

Colette is a beautiful name. I actually don't think they are too similar. I know a pair of brothers who are Elliot and Emmet and it never occurred to me that they are too similar.

They sound far too similar

I don’t think of Collette as being a timeless classy name (this is something you stipulated) - pretty much the opposite! I personally don’t like the matchy matchy names or names starting with the same letter, it makes me think of people naming a litter of puppies than children with their own individual personalities.

Their names don't define their personality...

They’re both much too similar and why does it supposedly make sense for them to start with the same letter?

Much too similar for me.

I have a school friend who has a sister with the same initials. The two names don't sound like same at all (think Sarah and Stephanie) but they both got called the other name by teachers all the time. It really annoyed them. So I'm anti siblings with the same initial.

I just think it would be nice to have some similarities in their names, just making sure im not going too far

Why? They're individual people. Why do they have to have matching names?

Most likely they'll hate it.

I really don’t see Colette as either of those things. Colette is a 50+ year old woman with a name that hasn’t cycled yet and I’m not sure is particularly nice either.
Chloe is a lovely name and matches the timelessness of Charlotte.

Not necessarily matching but somewhat similar as they are siblings after all. I have a friend who has a similar but not too similar name to her sister's (think lila and luna), and she loves it.

I think they sound and look far too similar. I wouldn't have liked a sibling to have such a close sounding name.
I'm also not keen on siblings having the same initials but this is what you want.

Weirdly, despite the similarities, I don't think they go well together. It feels like they have very different vibes.

You seem really determined to use Collette OP, so just do it.

I think it’ll be fine. The middle names make no difference day to day and I think it’s quite a cute link.

I accidentally named my daughters very similar names - they look nothing alike on paper and start with different letters but two of three syllables are almost exactly the same. I think Char and Col are quite different and although the endings are similar they are not the same - the sounds are ‘lot’ and ‘et’ the way I pronounce them anyway. It’ll be fine.

But it does form part of the first impression.

They sound the same. It sounds like you’re naming the second after the first! Let her have her own identity without having to fit in with the other.

I think Collette is beautiful and blends nicely with her sister Charlotte . And the middle names are nice too . Go for it

You seriously can’t imagine this? Really?
What if you were frying something on the hob and one of the children’s friends knocked on the door? You wouldn’t shout “CHILD, your friend is here” ?

Thats just one of very many basic scenarios before we even explore an emergency. Saying you’ve never shouted upstairs is completely unbelievable.

This was absolutely what I thought, the 2nd is just an 'add on' or part of a set, rather than being an individual in their own right. It's their name, they need to live it with it for their whole life. Names should be chosen to last a lifetime, not as a match for another name.

Cara is a lovely C name (although not sure why both need to be a C?), Chloe, Cora, Clara.

Charlotte is a lovely classic name, which will grow with them. Lottie as a younger child, Charlie as a teenager and Charlotte as a grown up.

Too similar imo, I do think Chloe is a nice suggestion

Well that’s Collette out then isn’t it?

But they're also 2 different people.

As siblings they will already have lots of things they share or have in common. There's no need to make their names match. You know one person who has a similar name who loves it, but plenty on this thread have said they hate it. Why risk it when there are so many other names you could choose?

If it has to be a C name, then there are plenty out there that are very dfferent from Charlotte. Is there a reason why you're ignoring lots of lovely suggestions such as

Camilla
Claudia
Catherine
Chloe
Caroline

I’ve got a similar name to my older sibling, I’m in my 40s and I still hate it. I won’t state what the names are but they are very similar to OPs, same beginning letter, different vowel and similar endings. I cringe when my sibling’s name comes up.

This is just my opinion as someone who has dealt with the jokes and snickers for decades: I guess it makes my parents sound a bit silly or immature, like they couldn’t think of a good name for me that wasn’t dependent on the name they’d already chosen for my sibling. I personally don’t even like sibling names starting with the same letter, for much the same reason.

Too similar, I would go with Chloe.

Go for it - if you like both names please use them. Personally I don't think they are too similar. They have similar sounding endings, but completely different beginnings. Use the name you love or you might regret it later.

The similarities/theme are in their middle names, if you are thinking is will link them together. I gave both mine middle names starting with an M to honour both their Grandma's whose first names both happen to start with an M. But first names are their identity and as such should be individual to them.

Just out of interest, does C or gems have a particular significance to you?