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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Anyone ever given baby name same as someone else in family other than a parent/grandparent?

24 replies

LadyCLC · 08/03/2011 13:47

Just out of interest , as this is a dilemna for us, has anyone ever given their child a name that is same as someone else (living) in their family who is not a parent/grandparent? If so what relation were they and how close?

Thanks

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5DollarShake · 08/03/2011 13:49

DS is named after his great-uncles, so my and DH's uncles. One living (middle name), one dead (first name). Both important to us, hence the choice. :)

BarbieLovesKen · 08/03/2011 13:50

I havent but in our families this is really the norm!. I.e. dh is one of 5, him and all his brother are all named after an uncle as are the uncles..

Theres alot of cousins/ nephews/ etc with the same name in my extended family but I dont know if they were specifically named after eachother or the name was just liked/ popular..

catwhiskers10 · 08/03/2011 13:58

I haven't but seriously thought about giving DD the same name as my SIL (just because I like the name) and co-incidentally it was the trainee midwife who attended me in labours name aswell so in my post birth state I thought the name would be a great idea.
The following day I picked a different name that I liked better.

NotJustKangaskhan · 08/03/2011 16:12

My daughter has the same name as her cousin-ish (husband's cousin's child) -- they were born about 4 months apart, but they were living in Finland at the time and hadn't heard we'd named ours...

At first there were a few relatives annoyed on our behalf, but now it's sort of cute particularly as they go by different nicknames and we always get a picture of them together when we see each other.

barmbrack · 08/03/2011 16:13

DS named after a great-uncle

lou4791 · 08/03/2011 16:26

DS2 has a middle name that is DS1's first name. It is a family name from my partner's side, but was chosen as to be named after his big brother too. There is a 12 year age gap. The boys share 3 out of their 4 names as the other joint middle name is after their Great Grandad. I suppose it's unusual but I love their names.

edwardcullensotherwoman · 08/03/2011 16:35

I've been wondering this too, as I really like Aimee, but have a close relative who is Amy. Also like Cate, or Cady (shortened from Cadence) but have a close relative who is Katie, usually shortened to Kate.

That said, my name is my cousin's middle name, so I suppose could use one of them as a middle name.

Do you have any relatives in mind to name DC after OP? Or names you want that happen to also belong to relatives?

Original poster

LadyCLC · 08/03/2011 16:56

The name we really love happens to belong to DC's 1st cousin (being DH's brother's son). We have tried to pick alternatives for weeks now but just don't love any other names as much. The name is also DH's middle name. We have spoken to his brother and our sister-in-law and they both say they dont have a problem with it.

There is a 13 year age gap, it would be just a bit wierd for the grandparents having 2 grandson's of the same name and I also concerned that everytime we tell someone the name DH may get 'isnt that your borthers sons name?' but it doesnt seem to bother him. I wish we could find a different name we liked as much but anything else seems a compromise.... it is such a dilemna its doing my head in!!!

If anyone else has a similar situation I would be really interested to hear you story/opinions.

edwardcullensotherwoman: how close is the Amy ?

OP posts:

edwardcullensotherwoman · 08/03/2011 17:06

If you really like the name I would use it - especially as it's your DH's middle name, effectively he's having "daddy's" name. As long as the cousin doesn't mind, I suppose. (You could always say the baby was named after him )

The Amy will be the bay's aunt, and one we see regularly at that, so very close!

edwardcullensotherwoman · 08/03/2011 17:07

baby 's aunt

BooBooGlass · 08/03/2011 17:13

My brother has the same name as my uncle (my mum's brother). I have no idea why since they're not close

messagetoyourudy · 08/03/2011 17:20

LadyCLC - I shared your sort of dilema - my DH and I had picked a boys name long before we had children, it was his grandfathers name and it was before old man names became fashionable.

BIL & SIL had a boy and were going to call him Elliot - lovely name we said, we would call our DS when we have one Wilfred. They then called their DS Wilfred!!!!

We couldn't find another name we liked as much and even considered using Ralfred as an alternative....

We didn't though

fifi25 · 08/03/2011 17:24

sil's pregnant and using my daughters middle name for first name

izzybiz · 08/03/2011 17:30

My ds and my cousins ds are a couple of weeks apart in age and have the same name, I named my Ds after my Grandad, then cousin did the same thing, they had decided on that name ages before too!
Doesn't worry us, we call them George 1 and George 2!

GoWestcountry · 08/03/2011 17:39

My cousin has the same name as me, she was born when I was 16. My aunt and uncle asked me and my parents if we minded, which we didn't, and asked me to be one of her godmother's which I was really pleased about.

Doesn't bother me at all having a relative with the same name and my cousin seems to like it. In fact she's suggesting I use our name for my soon-to-be-born daughter too!

skidd · 09/03/2011 12:26

I nearly named DS1 after my brother and then changed it when he was 5 weeks old because it just seemed a bit wierd - glad I did now - it would be wierd (but my brother has such a lovely name!)

fifi25 · 09/03/2011 12:32

Ive got 3 brothers, ones named after dad, one after uncle (dads brother) and one after grandad conversations all the time.

Tortoise · 09/03/2011 12:35

My DS1 has my little Brothers name as his middle name.

Bue · 09/03/2011 13:51

I've got a big extended family and there is lots of name overlap. It's not an issue for anyone.

exexpat · 09/03/2011 13:58

DD has a name which is traditional in my family, so there is one cousin my age called that, plus several others ranging from around 5 to 80 who have it as a middle name. Not a problem at all.

Grumpla · 09/03/2011 14:09

Several of my cousins are named after their uncles.
My DS is named after his grandfathers.

As it seems to be a family trait that we are all really shit at calling people by the correct name especially after a few drinks then at least it ups the chances of getting it right first time!

whysolate · 09/03/2011 14:17

It has been taken to extremes with DH's family.

His dad, brother and nephew all have the same name. It's so confusing we have to refer to them as x, little x and baby x.

bigbluebump · 09/03/2011 15:04

I'd use the name as a middle name if it means so much to you. The whole point of naming someone/something is to identify him/her as uniquely as possible, and having 2 grandchildren with the SAME name wouldn't be helpful imo. They'd have to add an adjective to differentiate the two - big xx, little xx or xx A., xx B. etc.

Original poster

LadyCLC · 10/03/2011 13:27

Thank you for all your comments - its really interesting to hear your stories and opinions on this subject - I am still undecided what to do. The name we are considering it actually Thomas, so it is a popular name anyway, we are considering maybe calling our's Tommy, as the cousin Thomas only ever gets called Thomas or Tom. Decisions, decisions....

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