Our top girls' name is also my sister-in-law's name!

[rosemarycait96]

Total coincidence, but my top girls' names are as follows

Emma
Emily
Matilda
Hannah

Boys, for good measure:
Eric
William
Edward
Alistair

We've pretty much picked out Emma as our favourite for a girl, but my husband's sister is also called Emma - would that be weird, or shall we go with Emily which sounds similar and is our second favourite?

My husband thinks I'm mad and he doesn't have a problem with it, but I want other opinions.

ps. And any name suggestions you might have that'll go on my list - classic, simple and timeless please! I just love hearing everyone's faves.

I think it would be weird. My parents had the same problem with me. My dad wanted the same name for me as my Mum’s sister. It was a very popular name at the time. They decided it would be too weird so my name is different by one letter. Think Clare and Clara (not those names but you get the idea).
i am very glad to have a different name from my aunt. It would have been confusing and I like being am individual with a similar but different name. I would say steer away from Emma.

I honestly don't really see a problem. My mum has 4 siblings, 3 of those siblings each named one of their kids Jenny. Nobody cared.
I love the name Emma and prefer it to Emily. If it wasn't my own name I'd probably have had it top of my list for a girls names. As it is I had 2 boys but our top girls name was Alice which I think has a similar timeless simplicity to it

My son's name is the same as my BIL. Definitely a coincidence - no one assumed we named him after him, which we didn't!
Depends on the name + family, etc but absolutely fine in our situation (and prob your as the name is timeless and not uncommon).

Probably would check that it's ok with your sister, but I don't see the problem really. My dad and his nephew have the same name, but they do use quite different nicknames. Eg if the name was Jonathan one would go by Jon and one by Nate. Less option for that with Emma.

My dad and his adult nephew have same name, it's a common name and his nephew wasn't named after him, I think my aunt just liked the name (she had 3 other children, they all have names no one else in family has).

I guess it might seem stranger in a smaller family but my dad has 15 nieces/nephews and between them they have around 30 children - some of whom are adults and on to the next generation. I think it's inevitable that there is some name duplication.

Is Emma our favourite name or your favourite name OP? I cannot see why this wasn't ruled out by your DH as soon as it was suggested as it's his sister's name!

My brother and SIL were thinking of using my name for their daughter.
I hated the idea! It felt like they were taking away my name.
They eventually chose something else much to my relief.