Can I go for sibling names with the same first letter?

[Onebiteofeverything]

I have an E named DS and think I like Edward for baby number 2. Would us cause a lot of confusion to have two boys with names beginning with the same letter?

Edward would probably be known as Ted while young.

I think it's fine. My husband is one of 5 and all their names begin with a J!

I'm one of three, all S's

Yes.

I don’t like same initials for siblings especially when they’re the same sex (master E and Miss E is less confusing than 2 Master Es or 2 Miss Es)

I have 2 girls that have the same 1st letter of there name and for ever get them mixed up lol. Pregnant with a 3rd girl and staying away from the letter A lol

My 2 both begin with E. One boy and one girl. 3 of my parents 5 kids start with S (I'm one of them)

@SallyWD

Oh my god, so happy someone else has this!

My DP has the initials TT. As do her 5 siblings. All six of them are TT.

They all just call each other by numbers - she's the oldest so she's T1, the youngest is T6.

I don’t see the problem with that, are you using middle names? Might help if they had different middle initials. My sisters first names and middle names both start with the same letter. Apart from some post confusion there were no issues at all.

My DSs have the same initial and are now adult and living in the same house with no issue despite half of MN saying they will constantly be confused and get the wrong mail etc. DH and 2 brothers all had the same initial back in days where getting actual mail through the door was more of a thing.

Only thing I've recently found an issue was looking at gifts for stockings and was going to get mugs with an initial on (as we could do with some new mugs) and then realised it wouldn't really work in our house. DH and I share first initial too (not same initial as DSs!).

I think for two siblings it’s absolutely fine.

For three or more, it looks deliberate and a bit twee.

I had the same initial as one of my sisters growing up and it never caused us any issues - it actually meant my mum didn’t have to name stuff twice, she’d just get labels saying J. Good.

I don't really like this as it looks a bit forced but if you really like Edward ho for it.

*go

A friend is one of 4 sisters with the same initials. She went through a stage as a teenager of hating it. She found it embarrassing, twee, (I think we used 'naff' then!), and lacking in individuality.

The main practical problem was always with cards, invitations and letters through the post. As a child, she got upset when someone mistakenly opened her things, or if her parents opened everything first to pass on to the right girl. The issue continued when things like bank statements started to arrive or anything else where she understandably wanted more privacy and autonomy.

They're a very close, loving and lovely family, but her parents ended up regretting the same initial choice because it did cause tension. The now adults haven't done it with their own DCs, and knowing how my friend felt was one of the reasons I avoided it with my DCs.

I think it's fine for two. More than that and I admit, I think it's a bit twee, but to be honest, it really doesn't matter very much. Like, you never have to put your siblings names on CVs or whatever.

Having the same initial makes it look a little like the kardashians. Personally I'd avoid it.

My brother and I have the same initial and had the same surname growing up.
DM and other DBro have the sane first abs middle initials and same surname.
My dd, DH and I have the sane first and middle initials and surname.

It’s all been fine.

From experience they’ll be opening each other’s post forever

Very common. I've said this on here before but at the school where I teach I'm hard pressed to think of siblings who don't have names that start with the same letter (and are often alliterative with the surname too!). Seems to be something of a thing in this area! So go for it.

The labelling thing is a good point. For DC1 I put (i.e. - not real name) B........Smith - with a gap between the initial and Surname and for DC2 I just filled in the name. If I didn't leave a big enough gap, I just put in the middle initial.

I don’t think it’s my ideal, mainly because of the small and surely diminishing possibility that they will suffer from post confusion, but it defined wouldn’t stop me if the two names I really liked had the same initial.

What post do people actually get anymore? Birthday cards are easy to identify as you can tell by the date it arrives, bank statements etc are all on line. Medical letters give full first name on them. My are 18 and 17 and it's really not been an issue at all. I expect them to leave home at some point in the near-ish future so even less chance. I'm not saying it's never happened to anyone but it is surely not really much of a consideration really nowadays. If anything DH and I being older get more mail and muddle it up more as I usually fail to notice whether it says Mr or Mrs :)

I didn't do it myself, but I don't think it's a weird thing to do.

My name begins with the same letter as one of my siblings. Never bothered or affected me in the slightest. (or her, to my knowledge)

That's what I was thinking, WaxOnFeckOff, I don't think post is the issue it once was!

My partner and his grown-up son with the same initial have had endless problems with the tax office mistaking them for one another.
I'd avoid it personally.