Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Baby names

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

Flip

1 2

Original poster

If your child is one of many with the same name in their class, does it bother them?

33 replies

TalkingBack · 06/03/2010 10:48

I was one of many with the same name and it never bothered me.

But parents go to so much effort to unsure their child doesn't have a popular name these days, I wondered does it really matter? Has it ever bothered the child? Or is just the parents who are concerned?

I ask as I'm thinking of naming dc2 George which I know is popular

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Original poster

TalkingBack · 06/03/2010 10:49

*unsure ensure

OP posts:

lostinwales · 06/03/2010 10:58

My son frequently sits at a table in school with his three best mates, Rhys, Rhys and Rhys, you'll never guess what our surname is ...

lostinwales · 06/03/2010 11:00

Oh and I think George is a lovely name, if DS3 had been DD1 as we thought he would have been Megan, because I have always liked it, stuff the most popular name lists.

nickelbabe · 06/03/2010 11:04

it's a bit annoying when your child has the same name as someone else, mainly because of the confusion it causes!

i had a friend in junior school with the same name as me (first and middle name!) and we thought it was great!
it can be quite exciting for the kids: sharing something even more special than the same game or teddy bear...

skidoodle · 06/03/2010 11:07

everyone I know with an unusual name loves it

people mostly indifferent to or irritated by having very common name ime

Hassled · 06/03/2010 11:09

There are hordes of Jacks in DS3's year (yr3). Doesn't seem to bother any of them - they all have very distinct personalities and just get on with it.

addictedtolatte · 06/03/2010 11:22

i love the name george stick with it. my ds is called jack i new when i picked his name it was very popular but the name just suited him. he was always gonna be called charlie but when he was born he looked like a jack

MrsCadwallader · 06/03/2010 11:33

To be honest, I think it's more important that a child has a name they can live with through their whole life than it is to have a name that is 'different'. Parents bend over backwards trying to find unusual names for their children only to find when their child starts nursery / preschool or even postnatal group that their 'unusual' choice is not unusual at all!

So, pick the name that you love the most and that you feel will 'serve' your child the best throughout their life. Never mind however many more there are of them!!

(this is the approach we took with DS3, at any rate, but that might be because we were running out of ideas for boys names by then! )

boodleboot · 06/03/2010 11:52

GEorge is a great name. I already have a James which isn't as popular as i thought it was and George will be the name of this bump should it be another DS.....

maryz · 06/03/2010 15:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

emsyj · 08/03/2010 13:48

I was one of 4 Emmas in my class at school and I didn't like it. However, it's different once you're out of school and in the workplace as you're no longer mixing with large numbers of people the same age. So I still come across a fair few Emmas but they don't dominate my life any more! Even at Uni the names are more mixed as people are coming from different parts of the country/world and different names are more popular in other areas. It's only really an issue during the school years.

shoobidoo · 08/03/2010 14:15

There are 3 Jack's in DS's class and they are known as Jack C, Jack T and Jack A (their surname initials). I think they probably would prefer to have their 'own' name, but it probably bothers the teacher more than the kids .

Imo, the whole point of 'naming' something or someone is to uniquely identify it. And given how many lovely names there are, I do think parents should spend a bit of time finding a name they love that isn't also used by 8000 other babies (I think there were 8000 boys called Jack in 2008 if I remember correctly.).

mopsyflopsy · 08/03/2010 14:30

I was one of 4 Clare's in my year at school and have to say that I didn't like it. I was envious of the girls with beautiful, unique names...

.... so my DD and DS have names outside of the top 100, but I do happen to love their names too!

foreverastudent · 08/03/2010 15:04

I was 1 of 4 in High School and din't like it. I envied those with good, original names.

But I was better off than those with daft names. There is a happy medium!

annasophia · 08/03/2010 15:32

It can indeed be confusing and annoying if a child has the same name as several others in the class/school.

And yes, in an ideal world, we'd all choose different, beautiful names for our children.

Problem is, we often like the same names, just like we like the same fashion, music etc.

Ariesgirl · 08/03/2010 15:34

Doesn't stop a name being nice. We had six Catherines/Katherines/Kathryns in my year at school and five Rhians (no prizes for guessing what country my school was in). All of them had their own unique personalities. If you like a name don't let it stop you. Personally I'd draw the line at another little Josh running around the place though.

CaveMum · 08/03/2010 18:14

A rule of thumb I was advised to apply when choosing a baby's name is to imagine your child filling out a job application form aged 25.

Call me old fashioned if you want but Prime Minister Fifi Trixibelle Smith does NOT have a ring to it!

Names don't need to have their spellings changed, hypens added etc. In the grand scheme of life it doesn't matter if your child is 1 of 4 Emily's in her class, she will still be an individual person in her own right.

"unique" baby names are a real pet hate of mine, children are unique by their very nature and a name doesn't change that.

Some "names" I've come across (not on this site I hasten to add) are tantamount to child abuse and parents need to realise that it might be sweet to call their dc one thing when they are babies but that name will become a millstone around their neck when they are an adult.

Rant over

Lonnie · 08/03/2010 19:09

Sil still now 53 years on can get irate about being one of 4 Jacuqline Anne's in her school so yes I would say it bothers them

Rockbird · 08/03/2010 19:23

I have one of those seventies names that spawned about 6 in each class and right from kindergarten, through school and every job I have ever had, including my current one where there are three of us in an office of ten, I have always had to be identified by my surname or initial and I am sick sick sick of it. Hence I went to the top 100 and picked a name that was in the upper half to lessen the chance of DD being in the same situation.

Of course I can't guarantee that she won't have three others in her class at some point and if you love a name I wouldn't not use it because of that but it certainly was a consideration for me.

annasophia · 08/03/2010 21:35

But Barack Obama or Condaleezza Rice haven't been held back in life despite having rather unusual names .

CaveMum · 08/03/2010 21:52

Cultural names are slightly different as they are common within a particular ethnic group.

I dont have a problem with cultural names as long as the child being given the name is part if that culture. There would be no point in me giving my children Japanese or Indian names as both dh and I are white British.

Each to their own I guess, it's what keeps the world interesting!

lockets · 08/03/2010 22:11

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

yellowcircle · 08/03/2010 22:15

I had the same name as another girl in my class - we were known as xxxx B and xxxx D (our surname initials). I used to think it was really cool actually

Anyway, in DS's class there are a few pairs of kids that share the same name and they all seem absolutely fine about it.

Sometimes they differentiate by surname initial and sometimes they have nicknames "big xxxx" and "little xxxx" - these kids are both 3 but differ vastly in height!

AllieW · 09/03/2010 19:45

Honestly, it's only really going to be a problem in school. Outside of school and once they're at work they'll be in a mixed age environment and will be far less likely to be one of many. So, really, you're only talking about a proportion of their time between the ages of 5 and 18. Thereafter it isn't an issue, even if it was before. Besides, I think boys are generally less fussed about it than girls might be.

Equally, I originally had a name that was unusual for my generation (it was really a name for my Mum's contemporaries) and I HATED it. Which is why I changed my name by Deed Poll so that my middle name became my first name.

Galena · 11/03/2010 12:47

I had 5 Hannah's in a class I taught a few years ago. They seemed fine.

My mum taught a class with two children with matching first names AND surnames. Luckily their middle initials were different, so they were known by first name + middle initial.

Flip

1 2