Two children same first initial

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I've always had a personal rule that I wouldn't give two of my children the same first initial. I feel when they're older and getting post getting letters for Mr A Smith with be super confusing if there are two Mr A Smiths in the house.

I think this partly stems from my own childhood, I have the same first initial as my dad and he'd frequently "accidentally" open my post claiming he mistook the Miss for Mr and I felt like I had no privacy

Now I'm pregnant with baby number 3 and the only boys name dh and I can agree on has the same first initial as ds1

Is my self-imposed rule stupid and I should give it up? Or does it make sense to others?

I wouldn't worry about it tbh. How much mail do kids really receive? Give them different middle name initials and use them to differentiate.

Is there an alternate spelling?
If not then unless they're very close in age it's unlikely to cause an issue through school. and a middle initial will solve the issue of post.

My friend growing up had 2 sisters with the same initial - as well as their mum being the same. It was a nightmare. They all used their second initial for banks etc but it is interesting to see none of them have gone on to do the same to their kids.

I wouldn’t worry. Less stuff gets sent in the post nowadays anyway!

Don’t worry. If that’s the perfect name it’s really not going to be a big inconvenience. Not much stuff gets posted now anyway.

When people comment on the post issue, I always wonder how much real post is still being delivered these days. I don't live in the UK and where I do live I never receive post so I guess it's just curiosity but it seems an extreme reason to not choose a name you love for the few potential occasions of confusion.
My feeling would be to ensure the middle name is a different first letter and ensure first and middle are given for formal things like bank accounts and doctors so hopefully any important post carries both initials.

Ds and I have same initial so when I was old enough to realise it was a problem when post arrived (not that much of an issue now) , I started using my middle initial. Still do.

My 2 have the same initial - 1 boy, 1 girl. Hasn't been an issue

There were 3 of 5 siblings in my house with the same initial and I don't remember an issue then either (I was one of the 3)

I never really got the whole initial issue (but then in my country post is usually sent to firstname lastname rather than initial lastname, which solves this ridiculous issue).

I wouldn't let this put me off a name I love tbh.

My dh has same initial as his parents and his dsis. Our dd also has same initial.

I
Have that rule as well for the same reason. Give yourself time and you'll
Come up
With something else I'm sure 😊

Very true!

To me this isn't about post but having an initial that is only yours. I deliberately made sure we discounted any names that had the same initial as Ds1 for Ds2. I grew up with the same initial as a sibling and a parent. Mail was an issue however just having to name clothes you can't just put first initial and surname initial for school stuff, not necessarily just clothes but water bottles, lunch boxes, wellies etc. It does feel petty writing it but it really meant a lot to me.

How much stuff do we get in the post these days ??
my bank and doctor etc all now completely online.
Birthday cards from friends? They'd use your name anyway so it's not a problem. I imagine children in a few years will find the idea that their parents were worried about post hilarious

@OnTheBenchOfDoom that's interesting, sorry it caused problems. I've never used first initial for uniform or water bottles. Always first name in full then initial for surname

@bloominglovelyorange when we moved into this house my children were 6 and 3, I bought a wooden initial letter to blu tack to their bedroom doors so they knew which was which. My children are now 19 and 16 and you can get any name made on Etsy these days but my children don't have names you find on ready made stuff like key rings or mugs so back then it was an issue.

I think it depends how long a person's first name is too. I volunteer in a primary so we get a lot of shapies used to initial jumpers or coats on the labels. Water bottles tend to have first names but like I said it is nice to have a letter that is just for you. My friend's DDs are both L, so their wellies would be labelled LB inside but she has to put the middle initial in to distinguish them so one of them is LIB and there is a Libby/Lib in the same class. Caused confusion at school with Libby saying these are not my wellies. I know these things seem petty but they can add into other things to make bigger things. Me not being the first to get that initial was one of them. I suppose it depends on sibling relationships too.

I specifically avoided having the same initials for this same reason - I know not much gets posted now, but I still wouldn’t do it. My view was, that initial was taken, and I therefore discounted it for future children. Same as I discount any names that don’t sound right with our surname.

My Mum, her brother, sister, Dad and Mum all had the same initial! I thought it was sweet

DH and I share an initial, DSs share a different initial. It's never been a problem and DSs are adults now. They were also close in age. Birthday cards is the main post so unless they share the same birthday then that's not a problem and it's getting less and less post all the time and most includes the full first name anyway.

For labelling clothes for school we gave eldest first initial then gap then surname and gave younger full first name and surname. The reason for the initial and gap on eldest was so we could just fill in the first name of DS2 if the item was handed down.

All things being equal I’d avoid matching initials. But if it was the only name I agreed on then it wouldn’t be a dealbreaker either.

I wouldn't. I had the same problem as you but nowadays letters are not so common and very often have full names on.

I wouldn't worry. I have the same initial for my two. I can't see it causing too many problems.

I think it's fine as long as you are not planning a third! Because then you would have a choice of either having two as a set with the same name and one looking "left out," or having to make it a theme for all three, which is where it does start to look tacky.

This IS the third. 1st & 3rd would share initial, 2nd has a different one.

@satelliteheart millions of names in the world, there cannot only be 3 you agree on!

print some name lists off each circle the ones you like, strike through the ones you hate & leave the others, you'll find one you both circle.

I changed my choice because of this. The name I wanted for my second DD had the same initial letter as my first DD and both were three syllables, so had a similar rhythm. We used it as her middle name instead.