Reusing a name...

[Fruitcake13]

So I'm expecting DD4 in 8 weeks, DH and I are not agreeing on names but we both love one of DD3's middle name.

What would you think of somebody using a middle name of a child for the new arrival so eg
DD3 Ruby Anne Olivia
Then naming DD4 Olivia Jane May

My friend is one of four sisters. Two of them have the same middle names. The other two have each other’s first names as middle names. She finds it really weird and embarrassing.

Not totally the same but my middle name is Anne and my sisters first name is Anna and nobody seems to think it’s weird

Middle names, in my opinion, don’t really matter and so can be used as a first name for another child.

Middle names, in my opinion, don’t really matter and so can be used as a first name for another child.

The other child may not like to get a name 'that doesn't really matter' enough to be used as a first name. She deserves her own first name, one that you thought up specifically for her.

It's completely fine, especially if DD3 does have multiple middle names. I'm surprised that anybody thinks otherwise.

My friend's middle name is her older sister's first name. The parents were hoping for a boy and hadn't decided on a name for another girl. A few years later, the desired boy appeared and was fawned over to a disgusting extent. Friend felt very left out and extremely unloved, since her parents didn't even give her a whole name that was entirely her's. I wouldn't do it.

I wouldn’t do it. It’s a name you bypassed for one daughter as a first name so it would seem second best.

I know a family who gave DS1's first name to DS2 as a middle name and it was ncie as a kind of family link, but I agree with the posters who say that to do it the other way round and give a name you used as a middle name for one child as the first name for a later child is weird.
The Cambridges can be excused as they needed two middle names for each of their boys and they were probably quite restricted in what would be considered acceptable names: Prince Noah Oscar Leo was never really on the cards, although I kind of hoped they would give him (Louis) Arthur as a first name rather than as a middle one.

We had DD1 middle name on the list for DD2. We didn't use it though.

My husband's middle name is the same as his younger half brother first name, his dad remarried and had another son, I said clearly his dad likes the name but my hubbys mum didn't want it as first name but second wife allowed it 🤷🏼‍♀️