Boy name already taken...

[Apple35]

Well i am 11 weeks pregnant and our friends had their baby a short while ago. They named their son after a friend who died tragically years ago. My husband had always wanted to name a son after him too even before we met and even well before this couple met!
They named their son Matthew Jacob and we wanted the name Matthew James. Would u guys still use it? I spoke to hubby and he still wants to. Would hate for him to be disappointed if we had a boy and not use it but feel it is already taken. Plus the middle names even seem similar!
Any advice?

No one owns a name. It's fine

Choose Matthew - it is a classic name and no one could think you were " copying" - unless you live in these friends' pockets - just choose it - not a problem in my opinion.

We have three Alex's in our family, they are cousins. Not even a family name. No one cares. All three have different surnames.
If you want Matthew use it. IIt's not like it's an unusual name they will come across many of them as time goes by.

An alternative could be to keep to Matthew James but have him known as James.

We spoke last night about it and we both feel awkward using Matthew James and said we will go with James Matthew. I am on the fence about it tbh. Maybe just wait until baby is born and see which one our hearts tell us to go by? Both sound nice imo. Xx

Both Matthew and James are nice and classic names - you could not go wrong with either as far as I can see so all best wishes to you ( I slightly prefer James but both pretty impeccable choices )

Am I the only one who thought about names but then once my Ds was born and had his name - never gave it another moment's thought - was just his name