Thoughts on Joshua and Joseph for twins?

[Tom1989]

Shortened to Josh and Joe. What do people think of this? Thanks

Too similar. They will get mixed up, as in who's who? It's very important for twins' mental health to have individual identities.

We have twins - Joshua and another name beginning with J. Not deliberate but they were the only two names we could agree on after they were born early and we still hadn’t decided.

In most cases it would be fine but where we have a lot of medical involvement it’s a massive pain in the bum - because they have the same birth date and same initial stuff often gets put on the wrong notes, or the wrong file is looked up and then there’s confusion over appointments etc.

I do love their names though.

No, they're too similar.

Joseph and Joshua are too similar - both start with Jos, both begin with a J and both are 6 letters long.

Their post will be addressed to Mr J Surname. They already share a birthday and surname, such similar first names could cause admin errors.

I would swap one out for a similar name e.g. David, Thomas, Ethan, Luke, Isaac, Matthew.

If they don't both need to be biblical then maybe something like Henry, Edward, William or George.

I think it's nice to give twins complimentary names i.e. with a similar feel, but these are too matchy IMO. Joseph and Matthew for example are both biblical and classic names and compliment each other nicely, but are different enough not to be twee.

I know a Joshua who is called Joe. You could end up with 2 Joes !

I’d choose a different name to go with Joseph. Maybe Joseph and James, Joseph and Jacob or Joseph and Jonathan?

Not as bad as the non twin siblings called Tim and Tom but rubbish for post, uniform returning if you wanted to just use first initial, identities.

Why the same initial?

Pick your favourite name and then find another name with a different first initial.

Seriously.

As others have said, same initial, same surname, same date of birth and address will lead to all kinds of annoying admin cock ups over the years. I wouldn't

Another mum of identical twins here. Lovely names, but honestly too match for twins. Other people will struggle to tell them apart anyway, so names with the same initial will inevitably make that even harder. Really important for them to feel they have something that distinguishes them from one another, and non-match names is a great place to start

Joshua is nice. Only trouble is it seems very popular at the moment. We know four little Joshuas.

Joseph is a bit 'biblical' in my view. But I know lots of people think it's a lovely name, so that's just me.

Other J suggestions if you're determined to have 'matching' names - James, John, Jonathan, Jason, Jethro, Jenson, Jacob, Jack, Jeremy, Jamie.

I agree about the post. My brother and father are both Mr J .... (different names beginning with the same letter) and when my brother was living at home it was sometimes difficult working out whose post was whose. Fortunately as they were at different stages in life it was often obvious from the source of the letter. As your twins will be the same age I think it will be far too confusing, not to mention same date of birth.

Too matchy matchy. Sounds naff.