BellaOnline Forums Health and Fitness Baby Names Matching Sibling Names

Hi everyone!

Here is my latest article, on "matching" sibling names: Matching Names of Siblings

What's your view on this -- do you think it's better when sibling names match in some way (i.e., rhyme, or start with the same first letter)? Or, do you think they should be as distinct from one another as possible?

I think they should be themselves, go with the flow,not controlled, some of mine rhyme, but I did not intentionally do it that way, it kind of got a natural rhytham of its own! Mine are, Max,Gus ,Jake,Jed and Samuel

Couldn't find the article, it redirected me to the Bella homepage.

Anyways, I don't like sibling names that rhyme or have all the same first letter, or what-have-you... however, I do think sibling names should at least GO together. I always find it odd if a family consists of siblings named (this is an example):

Thomas
Edward
James
Catherine
and Marajha

Marajha (female, means "made in the sea" in Esperanto) clearly stands out from the other names. Thomas, Edward, James, and Catherine are all classic names. Marajha is exotic and non traditional (by American standards). It's clearly different from the others.

However, I think one thing that CAN make names go together even if they don't is if every single one of your children have a name that doesn't go with each other. By not having any of the children's names "go" with the other childrens names... they end up "going" together, does that make sense? I have a friend who is going to have her third daughter soon. Her first daughter's name is Rebecca. Classic Hebrew name. Her second daughter is Alyssa, which is a rather trendy name. In my opinion the two names don't go together at all. Both she and I were saying that it would be really weird if she chose a name for her third daughter that "went with" either Rebecca or Alyssa because it would make the other name stand out like a sore thumb. So instead she went in a completely different direction and chose Gwendolen, a traditional Welsh name. It's got an entirely different sound and feel to it than both Rebecca and Alyssa (both of which I think have a different sound and feel from each other too), not to mention completely different origins and styles. I think the fact that the names are so SO SO different from each other is what makes them go together.

I like name themes, though I like them to be a little more subtle and not in your face. I have a son named Seamus (SHAY-mus) which is a traditional Irish name. It's the Irish form of James. His full name is Seamus Padraig Scott (two middle names). Seamus, Padraig, and Scott are all Celtic names. That is my "theme". It's important to me that I choose names for my future children that "go" with Seamus' name. I'd find it odd if I had a Seamus Padraig Scott and then an Alejandro Felix Bernardo. The names are COMPLETELY different from each other and they don't "go".

But I'm not going to go with an overly obvious matching. I'm not going to have kids named Seamus (SHAY-mus), Sinead (shih-NAYD), Sean (SHAWN), and Searlait (SHAR-let). I've chosen to have only Irish, Scottish, and Welsh names be used and that none of the same first letters of the first name being repeated. I do plan to use the name Siobhan (sha-VAWN) on the next girl, but only as a middle name. All my kids will also have two middle names. The current sib set I have in mind (if I have a total of two girls and two boys... which may or may not happen. I may have all boys or whatever... any way is fine by me, this is just to show the girl and boy names):

Seamus Padraig Scott (male, already born)
Rhiannon Caoimhe Siobhan (female. Caoimhe is said "KEE-vuh")
Conan Iain Alasdair or Conan Alasdair Iain (male)
Moira Brigid Gwenhwyfar (female)

Seamus, Rhiannon, Conan, and Moira may not seem overtly matchy, though if one knows enough about Celtic names, may realize that they are all Celtic. They match, but they're not "matchy".

On the same path as name themes... when it comes to kids with the same first letter names, even though I'm not a fan of that... if it's already there, I think it should continue. If there's already 3 or more kids that have the same first letter, I would find it odd if they had another child with a different first initial, especially if it's their last child. Though, if they have more kids and they give them different first initials, then I guess that would be less weird. On the same line as that, I have a friend who has 5 kids. The first two have names that start with C, the second two have names that start with I, and the fifth child has an L name. They're thinking of having another child, and I feel that since they've already got this theme going on, the sixth child should have a name that starts with L. That way they have: C, C, I, I, L, L. Like I said, I'm not a fan of matching first initials, but if there's already a theme established (3 or more kids, IMO), I think it should continue... unless you're planning to have a LOT more kids, lol... then it's not so weird.

I don't know if any of this made sense. I just woke up. Sorry I basically wrote a book.

my sister decided to give her children the same Initials. ALYEJ.

Also, the first names all begin the same way. With a letter A, an apostrphe and a capitol second consonent.

Example:

A'Daja
A'Treu
A'Nyuasha

however, my other sister did different names:

Zachary Alan and Ryan James

I don't even like it when all children in the family have the same initials.

Each human is unique and I think they should be given distinctly different sounding names.

(Speaking of names - how about all of the George Foreman people running around?)

Hi Niamh -- the link should be fixed now! Thanks for letting me know it wasn't working.




I totally agree -- if you've got an established pattern, no matter what it is, it probably shouldn't be changed mid-stream. You want your kids to feel they're equal to one another; you don't want the name of one to "stick out" -- as if that child were different, or favored.

I once knew a family that gave the ONLY distinct initial to their middle child.

James (father)
Judith (mother)
Jamie (first daughter)
Emily (second daughter)
Jillian (third daughter)

I always felt sorry for Emily. She was the oddball in the family as far as names AND the middle child. She felt perpetually out of place in her own family.

My mom, aunts, and maternal grandparents all have names that start with G. They called themselves "The Five G's." I thought that was cute. They named one dog Gatsby to continue the pattern. And they also had a Ginger. I think those were the only dogs with "G" names.

I think it's cute when siblings have names with a common theme. I know one family who put Mark and Maria in all their children's names...mostly because their names were Mark and Maria too!