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Original poster

Sister in law using same baby name

314 replies

Funinthesun20 · 25/03/2025 00:54

My sil has just given birth to my beautiful niece she and my brother have practically named the baby the same as my daughter 7.

Im talking close naming, think Grace/Gracie, Sophia/sophie, Rose/Rosie, Isabel/Isabella, Ella/Ellie….

Now, I know no-one has a right to a name and I know I don’t, that’s not what I’m saying, and I’m not even mad, just really confused! Surly when they were looking at names, they thought that one’s just like our nieces, not that one then? Like my husbands nephew is Theo and we liked Leo, but we thought that’s too close so moved on to other names.

Mine and my family’s reaction probably should have been better. But I was in complete shock when they told her name. I wasn’t rude, but my face said it all!

But the way they (sil and brother) are now acting as if they don’t have a clue why anyone would comment/react. As a lot of people are, as in family friends, wider family, even my work colleagues. Even my daughter is a bit confused “why does the baby have almost the same name as me?”
My mum is now laughing about having to list her grandchildren and say two with practically identical names!

I don’t know the point to this post I’m just…. Venting.

OP posts:
Whoarethoseguys · 27/03/2025 18:45

I don't understand the issue people seem to have now about names. For years families have used the same or similar names for their children and it was considered normal. Looking at my family tree there are a lot of repeated names. Now everyone seems to want to have their child to have a name no one has else has.
I am from a big family and I have two nephews with the same name, and a couple with very similar sounding names and no one has thought anything about it.

tempname1234 · 28/03/2025 14:31

Well, I grew up in a family where many people had the same name as first name or middle name. Grandma was Elizabeth, one of her daughters, then two grand daughters first names as well as a handful with this as middle name. None actually used the name in full on a day to day basis, each had different nicknames. We had repeats of Janes, david and Michael too. They were known as jimmy B, Jaime, uncle Jim, uncle Jimmy. Then we had Dave and Davey, cousin Mike, mikey B etc. no one minded and no one got confused.

Twinkletoes10 · 28/03/2025 14:44

I liked a lot of names that were already taken by family and friends, Jack was our favourite name for a boy. Did we call our son Jack? No because it was already used. Normal people find a different name!

BeholdOurButterStinketh · 28/03/2025 16:14

tempname1234 · 28/03/2025 14:31

Well, I grew up in a family where many people had the same name as first name or middle name. Grandma was Elizabeth, one of her daughters, then two grand daughters first names as well as a handful with this as middle name. None actually used the name in full on a day to day basis, each had different nicknames. We had repeats of Janes, david and Michael too. They were known as jimmy B, Jaime, uncle Jim, uncle Jimmy. Then we had Dave and Davey, cousin Mike, mikey B etc. no one minded and no one got confused.

But they knew that they would have got confused - hence they had to use nicknames and different name variations to avoid it!

Rhaenys · 29/03/2025 05:53

This isn’t the same, but someone in my immediate family called their baby a name that has the same nickname as mine, and now the child is known by the nickname and I’m just called by my full name. It irks me and does feel like they’ve stolen my name.

strangerontheinternet · 29/03/2025 06:00

This has just made me realise that my brother has a Jake and I have a Jack. The children are 18 years apart and live in different parts of the country. It didn’t even occur to me. Hopefully my SIL isn’t furious! There is a limited amount of nice names!

DearDenimEagle · 11/04/2025 07:45

We have 12 x Robert in the family and 4 Craig though one of those is a dog. We have an aunt and a dog both share a name. We have a friend of the John Johnson type name. Nobody laughs. There are also nicknames..the tallest is called Titch . My brother and I named sons the same, after a great uncle now deceased. I know many families with duplicate names. No one cares

pearbottomjeans · 13/04/2025 10:01

A dog called CRAIG?? Craig the dog? That's incredible.

Diblin93 · 14/04/2025 15:04

I come from a large extended family. I have three first cousins called Bernard. What are you wingeing about? You don’t own the name. Get over yourself. You might also tell you mother to stop laughing behind your Sil’s back - you sound like a couple of mean girls ganging up in an in-law

Irish999 · 19/04/2025 16:54

I have nieces named Isabell and Isabella. It isn’t the end of the world. No one owns a given name and there are no “dibs” on names.

Irish999 · 19/04/2025 16:59

No, that’s not the definition of “normal”. Names don’t belong to someone exclusively. If someone wants to use a similar or same name — thats perfectly “normal” too.

Cherrysoup · 19/04/2025 17:40

Are they named for someone in the family or is nobody else named this? All the girls on the maternal side in my family have the same name somewhere in there and because there are so many cousins on one side, there are duplicates of the boys’ names. The cousins are close and frequently meet up. Nobody’s bothered, I don’t think. Are you likely to see your niece frequently? Do you live near to one another?

MaryBe93 · 19/04/2025 17:47

This happened to my cousin and I, only I'm the daughter of the 2nd mother and we're only ONE year apart (and went to the same schools). I do not know if there was any tension between my mom and my aunt at the time, but it never was an issue for me or my cousin as far as I am aware ... in fact, my cousin was my confirmation sponsor. 😊

blubberyboo · 19/04/2025 17:51

Start saying to relatives in front of them that they have obviously named their baby after your daughter. Say it ALL THE TIME.

It will piss them off

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