Can I give the same name…?

[Tkoko]

I am struggling to understand if I can give to my son the same name as my brother did to his? Although there are so many names I just love the name Evan that my nephew has. Although we live in different countries I still don’t feel like I have a right to do it. What do you think?

Of course you can

but it’s mean to your nephew and your own son, don’t you like either of them enough to give your son his own name?

I love him so much that feel bad to give a name that I don’t like((( unfortunately there is not a single name apart from Evan that I like … I wish I had more options… of course I know it’s not ok to give same name ..but giving smth that you don’t like is a pity

It’s absolutely fine, my partners sister and cousin are both called Hayley. There were never any particular issues they’ve mentioned.

Plus my son is called Evan too and it’s the only name I liked too, it’s lovely ❤️

I don't think Evan is that great a name that it's worth all this angst. It's not exactly some special, out there, individual name.

These were my thoughts! It’s such a meh name to be inspiring all this angst!

OP, it’s probably hormones, but you’re being ridiculous. You have not ‘gone through ever name’ and there will be others that you like. And whatever you name him will be his name and you won’t be able to think of him as anything else. You won’t be looking at your 25 year old son Alex and weeping because he’s not called Evan.

Well, what does your brother think OP? And your parents? Really for the sake of family harmony they are the people that matter. I doubt the boys themselves will care that they have the same name - especially if they are living in different countries, won’t be at the same schools etc, but imo it’s not worth causing a family rift over a name if your brother or even your parents are against it.

Personally I come from a huge family where using the same name is considered fine for different generations (so father and son, uncle and nephew or 1st cousin and 2nd cousin etc- they either go by nicknames or end up called “big name” and “little name” because of the age differences on the rare occasions the family all gets together) - but I don’t know if it might be a bit more odd for your parents to have two grandchildren of the same name and of a fairly similar age.

And unfortunately Evan doesn’t even really have a nickname to differentiate between the cousins either. Maybe have a look at your family tree and see if there is anything else suitable further back down the generations? Maybe you are drawn to Evan precisely because it’s already in your family iykwim?

I didn’t say anything yet to them, because I feel it’s wrong.

My SIL is due a little boy soon, and admitted to DH that one of her favourite names is our DS’s name. I told him to tell her emphatically to use it if she wants to, doesn’t bother me at all. Likewise they live in a different country so they will likely only see each other every couple of years. In the end they’ve gone with a different name but it wouldn’t have been an issue for us.

Ps.. I also love the name Evan and only reluctantly ruled it out for our DS because my ex’s surname is Evans

There’s so many names, there must be something else you like.

for what it’s worth, Evan is really not that nice of a name. It’s very boring and not worth all this upset.

No that’s weird and I’d not be happy if my family member did it to me

I don't think Evan even meets these criteria, does it?

I would't.

You could have:

Ovan
Origin: Rare Slavic variant of Ivan, used in some Serbian or Croatian contexts.

Egon
Origin: Slavic and Germanic, meaning "edge of a sword" or "strong."

Elan
Origin: Slavic, meaning "energy" or "zeal" (also found in other cultures).

Vukan
Origin: Serbian, meaning "wolf" or derived from Slavic mythology (Vulcan-like fire god).

Savan
Origin: Slavic, variant of Sava, linked to the Sava River or meaning "wise" in some contexts.

All, imo, much more adventurous and less common than Evan.

I wouldn't. Due a girl soon and there's a reason we can't use what was our favourite name. Family harmony and avoiding upset with this relative is more important to us. I did consider asking but, in all honesty, I'm not even sure I could trust the reply because so many people would say yes it's fine because they were put on the spot. For what it's worth, once we accepted we couldn't use it, we found something we both love. There will be another name.

What are your favourite names of the ones that you consider interesting? Thanks

I always thought Evan was a Welsh name- well, maybe more an anglicised version of a Welsh name? I might be wrong on that but it doesn't seem Slavic to me at all.

(Nor does Ewan, which you also mention. That seems very Scottish to me.)

Personally I'd go for Anton, Alexei or Alexander. Or Max. Max is a great name.

Unfortunately you will upset your brother and his wife, the other child, the grandparents and lastly your own son because being called ‘little’ by the family is not much fun once you are grown.

Which one do you think are more beautiful?

Literally any other name. Every single name that has been suggested on this thread is nicer than Evan. It is not a nice name.

Why do you think it’s not nice? I really want to know… I want to understand more

There are far nicer and more interesting names than Evan.

Like what? I am Slavic and live in Italy and would like a name which is not Leo or Luca and not Italian but easy to pronounce for both families. So many names maybe in UK but I am not connected to uk in any way… it has to be somehow related… Evan stood for Ivan… but with more international vibe let’s say …

There’s nothing to understand. It’s just a blah unremarkable name. That’s why so many people are baffled you feel so strongly about it.

There are roughly 300 male Slavic names and around 400–500 male Italian names. There are also thousands of names in other languages can be pronounced by both families. You’ve been given examples on this thread.

If you decide to continue to obsess about this one utterly uninteresting name, then that’s an active choice you’re making.

I did a 30 second search and these came up as crossover names for both cultures. They are almost all more interesting than Evan. If you did actual research, you could find loads more.

Andrea (Andrei, Andrej)
Alessandro (Aleksandar, Oleksandr)
Antonio (Anton, Antonin)
Carlo (Karol, Karl)
Davide (David)
Daniele (Danil, Danilo, Danylo)
Filippo (Filip)
Giovanni (Ivan, Jan, Jovan)
Giuseppe (Josip, Jozef, Yosyp)
Luca (Luka)
Marco (Marko)
Matteo (Matej, Matija)
Michele (Mikhail, Mihailo, Mihael)
Nicola (Nikolai, Nikola)
Paolo (Pavel, Pavlo)
Pietro (Petar, Piotr, Petro)
Stefano (Stepan, Stefan)
Tommaso (Tomasz, Tomislav)
Giorgio (Georgi, Juraj)
Leonardo (Leonid, Leonard)
Emanuele (Emanuel, Immanuil)
Gabriele (Gavrilo, Habré, Gabriel)
Renato (Renat)
Silvano (Silvan, Silvestar)
Valentino (Valentin)
Massimo (Maksim)
Cesare (Cezar, Cezary)
Leone (Leon, Lev)
Elio (Ilija, Ilya)
Taddeo (Tadej, Tadeusz)

I’ve got the same first and middle name as my older cousin, I always thought it weird I had the same first name as it’s not common, I only recently discovered we have the same middle name too as she’s ten years older and lived 100 miles away. Very odd IMO. Not sure what my mother was thinking.