Do you follow any rules or patterns with your baby names?

[Forgetaboutme]

My two children's names both start with the same letter. This wasn't intentional but I know of others who follow patterns like that.

I only had one rule which others thought was weird. I would not choose a longer name for ds2 than ds1s name. To me, if I see the names Ben and Christopher, for example, its weird the second child having a longer name than the first. I therefore would only consider names 5 letters or less for my second child. My dh thought this was weird!

At least 3 syllables for first name, 1-2 syllables for middle name
No first names with the same initial as anyone else in the household
No first names with the same initial/phonetic sound as the surname
Nothing too similar to other dc names in the extended family
Outside the top 50, but a recognised name
First name can't have the same sound at the end as the start of the surname
No ambiguous spellings or pronounciations

We went with the names we liked and were quite different from each other in the sense of origin (not outlandish names all on the top 100).

The name just fitted each child in a sort of light bulb that's it moment.

However when my youngest was 3 months old we realised each name had one letter less (not real names but think George, Rosie, Sian so 6,5, 4 letters) we joke that the next one (which definitely won't happen) will have to be called max.

I think I would try and avoid the names being too similar, so not starting with the same letter for example as this is a bugbear of mine. Or having similar sounding endings.