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Baby names

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

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Original poster

"laws" of names within families

11 replies

Tea1Sugar · 08/09/2013 11:09

My cousin (who I rarely see, but fb chat now and again) has a daughter called Amelia but is always known as Millie. I don't think I've seen her daughter for a good two years. Dp really loves the name Amelia. Would it be wrong to use it? I can imagine various family members getting arsey as it's already in the (extended) family. I'm not due until April so plenty of time to think I suppose.

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bridgetsmum · 08/09/2013 11:11

I think it's perfectly fine to use the same names within a family. I have several cousins that share names.
Amelia is a lovely name, if you like it use it

MrsBungle · 08/09/2013 11:16

I have two cousins called Stewart. I've always found it slightly weird to have to say George's son or bob's son as they both also have the sane surname! They lived in the sane small town. I think my (and theirs) granny also found it a bit strange!

To me it depends how close you are.

liquidstate · 08/09/2013 11:22

cousins sharing names also runs in my family. My best friend is my name sharing cousin! Ditto with my sister and her namesake. We think its funny. It was unintentional, just the way it worked out. The children of cousins also have this duplication.

We say big liquid and little liquid when we have a family get together about once a year.

Also I use the full version of my name whereas she prefers the abbreviated version.

So use Amelia if you want to.

Leeds2 · 08/09/2013 13:10

I don't think that there is anything wrong at all with you using the name Amelia.

I wouldn't though, if it were me!

Leeds2 · 08/09/2013 13:10

I don't think that there is anything wrong at all with you using the name Amelia.

I wouldn't though, if it were me!

bananamummy · 08/09/2013 13:38

Amelia is THE most widely used name for girls, with over 8000 girls named it last year, and it the name of you cousin's dd name.
Is there really no other name you like? Seems we sometimes forget why we name someone - to identify them.

CruCru · 08/09/2013 14:14

Would you shorten it to Amy?

If you don't see your cousin often, it probably won't feel weird to use the same name. However if you both see aunts / uncles etc regularly but separately it may be weird for your relatives.

soontobeslendergirl · 08/09/2013 14:23

I have a few cousins with the same names as my brothers and sisters - we have some on both sides too :)

Why not have Emelia instead and you can claim it's a totally different name even though the pronunciation is very similar?

printmeanicephoto · 08/09/2013 15:04

I wouldn't personally. Might cause confusion within the wider family.

But it's up to you. Might be different if there's a tradition of using the same names within a family. I would be a bit miffed if one of my cousins gave their kid the same name as one of mine.

RalphtheTimid · 08/09/2013 15:52

Emelia nn Mellie

mathanxiety · 08/09/2013 18:57

Since it's your cousin's child then maybe far enough out not to matter. If it was your sister or your DH's sister who was the parent of the child then I would hesitate. However, I have a huge extended family and don't know half the names of the children of my 66 cousins, so in my case nobody's nose would be out of joint. If your family is smaller or closer knit then I would ask or cast around for alternatives.

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