Would you name your baby a similar name to your friend’s baby?

[Peonyyyy]

We are having a baby girl and there is a name we have wanted for ages, but a friend has just had a girl and named her a very similar name. I won’t say the actual name but it’s a bit like if she called her baby Annabelle and I called mine Isabelle, or Harper and Harley for example.

is it weird? Or is it ok because it’s not the exact same name? We’re not super close friends, but I don’t want to annoy her or for her to think I copied!

I think it's fine especially if you aren't close friends.

The examples you give are quite different so it wouldn’t occur to me there’s an issue. Catherine and Katherine would be an issue.

If it is not the same name, you didn't copy her! You can have any name you want....no one owns a name.

Totally fine.

It's fine.

It's fine

Even Catherine and Katherine wouldn't be an issue, unless perhaps the babies were first cousins.

Well we named our DS our friend's actual name, and nothing terrible happened, so I vote that it's fine.

It would be fine even if it was the same name. No one owns a name

I had a ex colleague ask if she could use one of my dc’s names. It was an odd request - 1. She’s an ex colleague who lives about 2 hours from me and we’re not even close (I was her boss but she was a bit of a dick and spiked my drink so I don’t go to reunion type things or anything). She also hasn’t had a second dc so it’s not been a name she’s even used 12 years later.

Those examples aren't that close. I'd chosen a girl name in honour of my late aunt for DC2 when a friend used it while i was pregnant. She didn't know. It wasn't a 'unique' name but not common. I asked her I'd she minded, she didn't and we had a boy so it was irrelevant anyway. Twenty years later we don't even live on the same continent.

Well I think that answers that! Thank you!

@TeenLifeMum how strange! Haha

Two of my friends, who are good friends with each other, have daughters called Lucy and Lucie. I don't think Lucy's mum was bothered when Lucie appeared on the scene! They're different kids and they're their own people, if you like the name stick with it