Is it really bad to have children with the same initial?

[20wkbaby]

I started another thread about names for our 2nd child. We don't know the sex yet but my current favourite for a girl and one I know my husband loves is Phoebe.

The only thing putting me off at the moment is that we already have a daughter called Poppy so both daughters (should baby turn out to be a girl) would have the initial P.

Does anyone have children with the same first initial or a sibling with same 1st initial as them? Does/ did it cause loads of problems with mail or at school/ doctor etc?

You could always add a second name and initial to prevent such confusion with mail and appt's etc.
P M Surname and P K Surname for instance

No, it's just one of those things that is frowned on in MNLand. No one in the RL would think anything of it.

I don't think it matters at all.

Can't see how it would cause that much confusion with mail/doctors/school. Doctors and school will just use the first name too and as for mail, well, opening it will soon reveil who it is for.

I can't see any problem tbh.

My DH and his brother have the same initials (different middle initials though, although neither use their middle one.) It wasn't done intentionaly, just the names PILs liked. They coped just fine growing up. TBH noone even thought of it in rl.

I have an A T and an A N, if you chose a different middle name I really can't see the problem.
DP was against it at first because his dad always opened his mail, but it was more carelessness as he has a different second initial than his father.

As long as they have differing middle initials it should be fine.

I did have one woman come ranting and raving at me in the bank one day (it's ok, I did work there ) because her daughter had been opening her (the woman's) bank statements. Both were addressed to 'Miss A B Smith'. The bank's fault, of course I politely suggested that we amended the mailing address to include first names, and wandered off to do so muttering under my breath about it being a bloody stupid idea to give your child exactly the same details as yourself..

I rather like same initials. The only time I might think twice is in the case of twins.

ds2 and dd have the same initials. and without giving myself away, it was only AFTER we'd named dd that we realised we had unintentionally given them the names of a brother & sister in extremely famous film, which nearly everybody who meets them together comments on.

i console myself with the knowledge that there are at least 2 fellow mums i know who have to say "these are my kids, sam and ella", which in an essex accent is fairly unfortunate

SIL had twins (B/G), K & K, then another son, K, and then another son also K... Tis hilarious.

My brother and I have the same initial but we both have two middle names which differentiated us.

The only problem we had was the combination of this intitial and our surname was a comedy name.

Still, at least we both suffered the same ridicule.

I hope not as my DS and DD have the same 1st & middle initials!
Not intentional 1st names were the only ones we agreed on and middle names are family names.

I'm against it, but that's mainly because I work with a database of almost 4mil names and if both children were on it, things can get confusing.

TBH, it's the same, data-wise, if any members of a family all living at one address have the same initial+surname i.e. a boy with the same name/first initial as his father.

So yeah, out of kindness to others in my profession I wouldn't do it, but I wouldn't expect non-data-minded people to really think twice about it. If you like the names then use them.

As long as you do it because you love the name rather than fit a pattern, I think it is fine. All my siblings and I have the same initials, to fit a pattern, and both myself and younger sister despise it, possibly because we know our mother didn't really like the names, but liked the idea of a pattern.

Thanks everyone, that has made me feel better. I must say I did think of the Duggars but that is a little bit mad in any case. What amazes me is they used Jinger before Josie (their youngest).

I guess my children won't always share the same address.

Just have to wait another 20 weeks now and see if a) we have a girl and b) we still love the name Phoebe.

dh has 3 brothers with the same initial and it did cause some confusion, tey stayed at home well into their 20's and although a problem could be solved by opening mail ,it wasn't always that easy . if one brother was away on holiday etc , mail would be left unopened until his return , in case it was a personal or confidential letter meaning the other brothers sometimes received mail very late.

another thing to consider is to have 2 with the initial p is fine but if you go on to have more dc's you may feel forced to carry on the tradition as you would not like a potential dc3 or 4 to feel left out , which i think is how the duggars naming tradition began

I like the names Poppy and Phoebe together! Especially as they don't start with the same sound.

Great names. :)

My sister and I both have the same initial - it was very bad the few years Valentines cards were posted to home. There are a couple we still don't know who they were intended for!!

We have different middle initials, which was supposed to stop the confusion with post, but of course people you don't know that well don't know your middle name and others don't always use the middle initial.

Thanks Emelene and LadyGrace - I think they go nicely too

I'm a Susan and my brother is a Simon. It has never been a problem for us. The Duggars in America don't have a problem (19 kids and counting) They're kids are:
Joshua, Jana, John-David, Jill, Jessa, Jinger, Joseph,Josiah, Joy-Anna, Jedidiah, Jeremiah, Jason, James, Justin, Jackson, Johannah, Jennifer, Jordyn-Grace and Josie.

i think it depends if 2 dcs are the same sex boy and a girl same initial is less of a problem as letters etc arrive to a miss p or mr p . but if it's 2 girls or 2 boys with the same initial mail adressed to mr or miss p for example ,it can be more problematic .

Mine have the same initial. I agonised about it for six full weeks,and then the appointment to register her was twenty minutes away and we thought that the name we wanted was clearly the one we liked the best so went with it. I still wish it was a different initial, but her name does suit her,and thats all we wanted in the end.