Eliza and Eleanor...?

[MoonHare]

Are these names just too similar sounding for siblings?

Eliza has been no.1 on our girls names shortlist for DC3 but it suddenly occured to me that maybe it's a bit too samey to DD1s name; Eleanor.

Also on the shortlist; Harriet and Isobel

Opinions please?

Love all your options, but I think Eliza and Eleanor are just fine, not too similar.

Eliza and Eleanor don't sound too similar but what if both girls get called Ellie by their friends?

Harriet is a fab choice. Isobel's absolutely lovely too but as it's a bit overexposed I can't get too excited about it!

Harriet would be my choice for matching Eleanor in style but sounding different.

There's another DC inbetween, yes? So it would be Eleanor, Fred and Eliza - people wouldn't really say the girls' names together, IYSWIM.

All your choices are lovely but Eliza is the loveliest.

My Eleanor was going to be Eliza but I was overruled. I swore if I had a 4th girl I would call her Eliza. They DO go together! Anyway if Eliza was going to be shortened it would be Lizzie.

I have an Eliza, its a lovely name and not overused. I think its fine with Eleanor, although it might be annoying for them to have the same initials when they're older (post etc)

Oh and I shorten Eliza to Liza-lou (she's still a little baby, I call her twin brother Roddy-roo!)

Glad to hear the positive responses.

The two potential problems that I thought of were; they might both end up nn Ellie by their friends (we will NEVER nn them Ellie!) and having the same initial.

But LeeCoakley makes a good point; Eliza could very well be nn Lizzie or maybe just Liza.

And I suppose a few years of mild irritation at opening each other's post while living at home will pass quickly, they will spend much longer living apart - I hope!

love both these names and would shorten them to Lizzy and Nell personally.

My DD is Eleanor and if we had ever been lucky enough to have another DD she would have been Harriet.

I have an Eva and Eliza. No problems so far. We don't really ever get that much postnow - mostly emails - even official stuff, so post in future years shouldn't be too much of a problem. I know a family with 5 kids all with J names...and parents have J names too!

Eliza is a fab name, getting a bit more common though. Since having mine last year, I've heard of loads since!

I don't think Eliza shortens easily to Ellie, more likely she'll be nicknamed Liz or Liza by friends, if at all. I find (secondary school teacher) that girls are far less likely to nickname each other than boys.

As long as middle initials are different then post shouldn't be too much of a problem. DH, DBIL and MIL all have same initials which caused issues with post, and also irritated DBIL no end when he had DH's (his brother's) student loan contribution deducted from his pay, despite never having been to uni!

Lets face it, whilst they are children most post will be birthday cards so even cards only addressed with first initial and surname will be easily identifiable according to whose birthday it is soon. As adults, they can insist that their bank statements are addressed to first initial, second initial, surname or even first name then surname to avoid confusion.

They sound gorgeous together IMO: I love jollster's suggestion for NN as Lizzy and Nell.

My DDs names are similar (def not the same); both 4 letters and all the same bar one letter used (in a different combination). I love their names when said together (obviously!) an like the similarity between your suggested names :)

I like Harriet and Eliza. I would have liked an Eliza but DDs middle name is Elizabeth. Eliza is fast becoming popular I hear it a lot now. I LOVE Hattie as a nn for Harriet, this was on my SL when pregnant with my DD and I would consider it again should I ever have another girl. Both go well with Eleanor but I think Harriet would be my winner, they sound great together.

Thanks for your comments everyone, I've put Eliza back at the top of the shortlist, for now.....