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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

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Original poster

Rhyming cousin names…weird?!

52 replies

Gymandtonic00 · 30/07/2023 21:49

Help!
Our baby girl is due in a month and we really like a name. Only issue is, it rhymes with my nephew’s name (think Marnie and Barney).
My nephew is 8, so there will be a bit of an age gap, and although we don’t live near to him, we are a close family. My mum and dad will have 6 grandchildren, including our new baby, and I don’t want it to be weird for them when they are talking about their grandchildren.
My husband and I really love the name but I’m worried about my sister in law’s reaction as she can be a little vocal about things she’s not keen on. I don’t know if she’ll think it’s weird.
Am I the one who’s being weird-my husband thinks we should just use the name- or do you think it’s an issue?

OP posts:

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RitzyMcFitzy · 30/07/2023 22:42

I'm amazed that this might be an issue for some families.

I have something like 50 first cousins. Having repeats of names isn't unusual in our family, never mind rhyming names.

They won't be growing up next door to one another so I just can't see it being that much of a big deal. If anything it's really cute, 16 year old Nate and 8 year old Kate. Adorable!

T1Dmama · 30/07/2023 22:47

Depends how close I suppose.
my in-law and her sister have daughters, similar in age (months apart) and they’re names are so similar it’s ridiculous. Think Holly & Molly’ …
however something like Daniel and Samuel isn’t so bad??
my name rhymes with my cousins but isn’t spelt so similar… however we both also share the same middle name which is funnier… but it’s never bothered us.
years ago an ex had a best mate who was called Darren, his sisters were Karen and Sharon… that was a step too far!

LakeTiticaca · 30/07/2023 22:48

I knew sisters called Kayley and Hayley

Go for it 🥰🤣

IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads · 30/07/2023 22:52

I've said this before on here. I have 3 sets of cousins called eg: Bill and Ben. Two of them are on the sane side of the family. That means my parents had 3 nephews called Bill and three called Ben, and my grandparents had 2 grandsons called Bill and 2 called Ben. Not weird, just unimaginative (they are not even names that hold any family significance). Names that are actually different are fine!

mastertomsmum · 30/07/2023 22:55

I don’t think it matters at all. Our nieces are Aimee and Ellie which is twee but fine. A friend of mine married a man called Darren whose sister is called Karen. That always raises a grin but does it really matter, noo

Moveoverdarlin · 30/07/2023 22:55

No one cross references their babies names with cousins. So yes, it would be odd to have two daughters Polly and Molly. But if your parents say ‘oh we’ve got 6 lovely grandchildren Polly, Jack, Emily, Freddie, Freya and Molly’, no one would ever notice they rhyme.

If your SIL says anything I would pretend I hadn’t even noticed ‘oh yes, I spose they do rhyme, how funny’ and move on.

T1Dmama · 30/07/2023 23:01

If your SIL says anything I would pretend I hadn’t even noticed ‘oh yes, I spose they do rhyme, how funny’ and move on.

this ^

Fizbosshoes · 30/07/2023 23:09

My DD has a really similar sounding name to one of her cousins. They are about 10 years apart. MIL often used to say the wrong name by accident but I didn't think it was a huge deal...but now I'm hoping I'm not one of the people you refer to in your post @FDxx We chose the name we liked and we thought suited DD.

DuchessOfSausage · 31/07/2023 20:12

I have two cousins with the same name. Not an issue.

Midgely23 · 31/07/2023 20:34

I also have cousins with the exact same name not even a family name just both parents liked it. Never been an issue

Gemstonebeach · 31/07/2023 20:38

Just use it, there’s only three cousins here and two of them have rhyming endings - tine and line.

limemarmaladeisbetter · 31/07/2023 20:47

My DD has a baby name she loves but it also rhymes with her DN's name. It rhymes but is a totally different name.
She's decided not to use it due to her DH being worried about upsetting his family. It's sad because it's a beautiful name.

It's as similar as Rainbow/Beau but not those names 😆

I think she should use it but I do understand both sides.

Happyandyoudontknowit · 31/07/2023 21:09

I personally would find it a bit odd. I have a Penny and wouldn’t be impressed if my sister called her child Lenny… but each to their own, I think it depends how close you are.

Happyandyoudontknowit · 31/07/2023 21:12

Although I only have one child, Penny, and my sister only has 1. If my parents were asked if they had any grand children, saying “oh yes, Penny and Lenny” would sound silly, but if we had multiple grand children and they said “Yes, Penny, Jack, Olivia, Harry and Lenny” it wouldn’t seem weird.

Hobbesmanc · 31/07/2023 21:23

I'm sure there were plenty of cousin Sharon and Karen and Darren when I was a child. So I'd not be deterred from using say Florence if there was a Lawrence in the family already.

Original poster

Gymandtonic00 · 31/07/2023 21:24

@Happyandyoudontknowit Yeah, I understand that. I’m hoping that because there are 6 grandchildren then it’s not too odd.

OP posts:

Wigeon · 31/07/2023 21:29

My nephew's name rhymes with my DD's name and it's not an issue at all (he was born several years after her).

Original poster

Gymandtonic00 · 31/07/2023 21:33

@Wigeon same situation as us then- 8 years difference

OP posts:

Sewingdufus · 31/07/2023 21:36

Don’t panic. It only affects one side of the family and there are several other children. In the kindest way possible you are overthinking this.

T1Dmama · 01/08/2023 00:39

100% have the name you both like. Don’t listen to others and don’t tell them until after he’s born and you’ve registered the birth x if it comes up just say either that you hadn’t thought about it but it doesn’t matter… or ‘oh yes… well take it as a compliment to your DS.
or simply say, yes we’d thought about that but it was the only name we both liked and I knew you wouldn’t mind!!

Saschka · 01/08/2023 00:46

If there are 6 grandchildren, you’d be hard pushed to come up with a name that doesn’t rhyme/start with the same letter/sound similar to one of them. Jim and Tim or Sasha and Natasha or whatever is no worse than Jim and Jonathan, or Sasha and Sarah.

T1Dmama · 01/08/2023 00:47

And actually when I was pregnant we had James picked out for a boy… my husbands cousin had a boy and called it James and he was so upset and thought I’d now say no to the name… but actually we decided that they’d probably never meet anyway so we’d still have the name. If we had a boy!

tianabiscuit · 01/08/2023 00:57

My DD's name rhymes with her cousin (9 years younger, almost to the day). They're not spelled similarly, even though they rhyme, and honestly I don't think anyone even clocked it until my DD mentioned it - she thought it was brilliant!

user1492757084 · 01/08/2023 02:56

The children themselves will probably love it!

EmmaGrundyForPM · 01/08/2023 03:05

My cousin and I are 5 weeks apart in age and it's only because I've read this thread that I've realised our names rhyme.

To be fair to our parents, our birth names don't rhyme, but our shortened names do, and those are the names we are always called. So think Jessica and Theresa, which don't rhyme, but we're known as Jess and Tess, which do.

Obviously it's not an issue for our family as I've managed to go 50 years without it occurring to me!

If you like the name, use it.

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