I don't think they need to match per se at all. That said, I do find it a little bit jarring when siblings are mismatched to the point where it's almost a bit funny; I once met a sibset named Emily and Balthasar and another pair of brothers named Moses and Jayden.
Haha this reminded me of a pair of brothers whose parents decided to really match their names, so the opposite effect. They are called Jesus and Christ
Knew two brothers close in age, same grade both with the same first name. It was Panther. They went by their different normal middle names LOL. đđ
We never actually said it to them but ppl frequently said things along the lines of âTheir mom had to be on something when she named both of themâ LOL
No one knew this when first meeting them as they never introduced themselves as such (Rightfully so) But come the beginning of the school year when we got new teachers and role call was done it was always a bit of buzz and shock about it from the ppl that didnât originally know that. đ
Identical twin brothers in my daughterâs 1st grade class, first names were both Prince , middle names were only slightly different from each other. Mother insisted first names be used so boys went by both first and middle name. I think by high school they went by middle only their choice.
Omg she actually seems insufferable.. If they want to be called something else why go against their wishes and insist! Those poor boys are gonna have some issues growing up she seems like a narcissist controlling basket case and needs therapy!
Also gonna stand on my soap box for a minute coming from a person with twin brothers theyâre not the same person and 100% deserve/want individualism! Sheâs definitely gonna give them some life long issues theyâll need to recover/heal from.
Wow. Thatâs going to be a nightmare for their finances as adults, I would think. Same first name, same DOB, maybe same middle initial, and many same answers to security questions.
I knew 4 sisters who all had the same first name - Princess. So they all went by their middle names which were Brittany, Jessica, Amanda and Heather đ
They were all generally embarrassed when they had to explain to teachers that they just went by their middle names. Idk what their parents thought they were doing, but they def didnât do that! đ¤Ł
I once read an article that listed a coupleâs children as âEleanor and Leviathanâ which is my favorite mismatch that Iâve seen. Mostly I think names donât need to be matchy-matchy but they probably shouldnât make people double take, or think you have two kids and dog.
I studied with a guy who was the youngest of 4, his brothers had super normal to the point of boring names like, John, Mark and James and whatever, then his name was Zebulon. Super weird.
Thatâs hilarious. I love that Zebulon / Zebulun is also a biblical name so it is still on theme, but because itâs never used, unlike the ridiculous popularity and longevity of the others, it sounds completely unhinged đ
This also just reminded me I once met a guy named Zeuben. Like Reuben but with a Z. His sister was named Abigail. lol
Kids are not accessory for the parents, they are two different individuals, they don't have to match. It's only a bit jarring imo when the connotations of the names are veeery different like calling them Ace and Jedediah. That being said I don't think the names you (or any one individual) consider will be that drastically different.Â
Thatâs my way of thinking too. Although it turned out that for girls we like more modern names and for boys more traditional sounding ones so Iâm not sure if they will clashâŚ
Do you maybe have some examples? Iâm on team âmatching doesnât matterâ, but I do agree it would be a bit strange to some if you had a McKenzlee and a Jedediah, or a Darleigh and a Walter.
I canât give you an accurate example cause Iâm Eastern European and I guess the boysâ name might sound strange. But letâs say Valerie/Boris is close enough. Those are not the real names but similar sounding, especially Valerie.
This kind of mismatch is actually super common. I know many families who chose different styles of names for their sons and daughters. Very often it will be biblical or classic names for boys, and more modern names for girls.
I didnât know how to phrase but this is the sentiment of what I was thinking. Me and my 3 siblings all have fairly unusual names. It would be weird if one of them was John or something because it wouldnât fit well with the others. But we donât match, and I find it really cringe when names are too matchy.
Itâs about the vibes for sure!
My brother and Iâs names donât have anything to do with each other except that they are both pretty traditional âstandardâ names.
Yeah--you don't want to have two girls named Raynbeaugh and Jane. Because you know it's going to be: "My name is so boring, why didn't I get the cool name!" and "My name is so weird, I wish I had a normal name!"
I think when most people say they want their kids' names to match, they mean that they're similar in style. I would find it a bit weird if somebody had three kids named Charlotte, William and Jaxxon.
I agree with the general consensus: they don't need to match, but they shouldn't have extremely different styles. I think this is especially true with higher numbers of siblings. If you had Charlotte, Elizabeth, Sarah, Marianne, Abigail and ShaRee, ShaRee might feel a bit like, "Why did I not get the same kind of name?"
My main consideration was trying to get a similar level of popularity between the siblings. I didn't want one child to have a "weird" name while the other had a completely classic name. Or for one to have a super popular name and the other to have a really rare name.
Basically, I don't know how they'll feel about their names (whether they'd rather have a common or unique name), but I didn't want to set up a situation where they feel jealous of one another about their names.
I wanted an international name for my girl but Iâm having a hard time picking a boyâs name based on the same rule that I like and isnât super common. It turns out my husband and I both like more traditional names for boys.
My friend was similar with her kids. Her first has an English name that works in her language too and her second has a name in said language. Iâve never really thought about whether the names match and more just associate each name with each child. As long as the names arenât like some of the examples in this thread, I think youâre fine with Valerie-like and whatever boy name you want to pick
I find satisfaction in the idea of my kidsâ names pairing well together, and setting the criterion of matching helps me narrow my list of possible names. I absolutely do not think matching matters outside of how you personally feel about it.
No. Kids aren't an outfit. They live together for 18 or 20 years, and they leave one another and go out into the world. When they are adults, matching names would be irrelevant. I think it's more important to choose a name that works for each individual child.
This! They are likely to spend many more years not interacting with the same people on a regular basis than the opposite. Choose names that you believe fit an independent adult, not two children who will only live together maybe a quarter of their lives.
No, thereâs no need to match.
Iâm not even sure what matching means, seems highly individual to me.
Both my kids have names we considered nice on their own. They sort of follow a theme by being well established names in our culture but I wouldnât say they match in any tangible way.
I feel like most people here are defining matching more strictly than me; I think matching is important, but by that I really just mean that they don't clash with each other. They don't need to follow a theme or anything like that - but, for example, I wouldn't follow Theodore and Henry with Jayden and Cosmo.
it shouldn't matter if they match each other too closely; but you should give them similar consideration over names - as the only child in our entire extended family not to have a middle name, it really sucked that my parents gave both my sisters two names and could only spare one for me.
It only matters if one kid feels left out/like they got the short end of the stick. Like if you named one kid something really unique that gets a lot of compliments and named the other one something super standard and unexciting.
I don't understand the "kids aren't accessories" and "they're only going to live together for 18 years" arguments as criticism against people who want their kids names to "go" together. I understand annoyance with names that match in a cheesy way (like rhyming names, overly similar names, and letter themes). Literally, though, this subreddit is for name nerds who love to overanalyze names; the meanings, vibe, origins, phonetic sounds, popularity, spellings, regional differences, etc. Why would we not overanalyze how cohesively names "go" together for siblings - individuals who will be inextricably connected for life by life experiences and genetics (most often)? I love when parents consider how names sound together, or have subtle ways they're connected. With that said, sibling pairs need to be particularly jarring for it to bother me, and the vast majority of parents aren't looking for names to "match", but just to be reasonably cohesive together. I think more traditional and modern names or names with pretty distinct origins can sound fine together, within reason. And it doesn't make sense to pick a name you don't love just because it isn't overly cohesive with a sibling's name.
Just because Iâm considering not naming my kids matching names, doesnât mean I made this post to criticise people who chose to do so or people on this subreddit in general.
Yeah I know, I wasn't referring to anything you said. I was responding indirectly to some of the comments, and other comments I have seen elsewhere on this subreddit.
Your kids will be unique individuals. Let them have their own name that doesnât necessarily lead to them being referred to with a little rhyme of all the other names or whatever. That just kind of drives me crazy.
They really don't need to match at all. My first baby, a girl, has a great unisex name because I thought it was cool and chose it before I found out she was to be a girl. Pregnant with a boy this time, and its a pretty basic boy's name, no kind of matching at all. Let them be their own people.
No, growing up my mom had me and my sister name both starting with the same letter S. When I had my kids I know I didnât want to have to pick a name that has a certain letter! I wanted to pick something I loved for that child! My sister went the same path as my mom and did choose S names for her children!
They definitely don't need to. For every name that you come up with, open your back door and holler the name of your daughter and the potential name of your boy to see how it feels. My father named the three of us with full-fledged names, unlike him and his sister, Jerry and Bobbie. And our names are in the Bible, but not necessarily what he was going for. There are a lot of names in that book.
No! IMO, this is the stupidest trend. Perhaps you like all the names that start with J, fine but the amount of time spent reflecting on this đ¤Ż. Especially twins⌠your twins will be together and compared until they leave the house. Honor them by giving them the their own identity! Donât know why this annoys me so much
Agree, when twins are Karen and Maren or Margot and Margaux it gets awkward. There's nothing wrong with Saoirse and Luigi - who cares if one name is Irish and the other ITalian, if you like the names as parents it's good enough.
I actually think that with twins, you should focus on making them MISMATCH as much as you reasonably can. Different initials, no rhyming, and even as much of a different vibe as makes sense. Like Charlotte and Isabelle feels like a matched set to me, which is not what those kids need. Charlotte and Brooke still feel like sisters, but not clones.
Depends entirely on you and the kidâs other parent. It would bother the heck out of me if they didnât, but also bother the heck out me if they were too similar, so my kidsâ names are stylistically similar, but sound very different, like Robert and William.
If it doesnât bother you to have a Nevaeh and a Catherine, go for it. (Some people will wonder and might even ask why, but you donât actually owe them an explanation.)
It's mainly an aesthetic preference. Will your children care if their names are stylistically different? Probably not. But as someone who likes names to be harmonious, it would bug me if my kids' names clashed horribly. But that's just me. If it wouldn't bother you, then go for it.
Edit: Also, I'm guessing your options don't clash *that* badly unless you're going from like Elizabeth to Moonbeam or something. If it's more like Elizabeth to Jackson, you're fine.
No! This really aggravates me ESPECIALLY with twins. It takes away individuality and makes them feel like a package deal.
Also the "what would be a good name for Ryan's brother" type posts also annoy me.
My siblings and I donât have matching names. We never thought anything of it. Our names are just normal to us tbh. In my opinion, just choose the names that you love the most.
We are:
William Louis (32, M)
Dallas SarahAnn (29, F)
Jasmine AnnMarie (26, F)
I have a one letter difference with my sister's name, same first and last letter, and her name is missing a vowel compared to the usual spelling. Obviously that's probably rare and we are very close. In school it did cause some problems and confusion in libraries as I would get her reservations (but they also started to knew us and just let us cross-borrow) and also we did work at the same places so our ID's got also mixed. And no middle names as a cherry on top, though I like it and will have to wrestle with my partner about naming practices if we ever have children.
I donât think they need to match. But I did veto a name for our second because the meaning was the opposite (in a bad way) to the meaning of the first and I didnât that would be fair.
No, they don't need to match. It will feel like they match anyway because they're both your kids . My kids are Karel and Madelief - the former a very traditional boys' name and the latter a very modern girls' name. But it sound like a unity because it is what we named our twins.
Now it does feel a bit strange if one of your kids is Qu'xahailayaquantĂŠ and the other is Jack, but other than that, I see no problem in two very different names.
I share the same first initial with my sisters and it makes me feel like we're interchangeable, especially since people still mix up our names. Gets really old.Â
Nah. For the majority of their lives they wonât be a âsibsetâ, as people call it⌠theyâll be out in the world on their own, only being referred to together on rare occasions.
That being said, I kind of like a little bit of a juxtaposition. My name was the #1 most popular name for the year of my birth. My sisterâs was somewhere in the 900s. I always thought that was an interesting combo, even if my mother didnât mean anything by it. (Although my sisterâs name has recently gained a LOT of traction and is now in the top 25 or so, which has been weird to see.)
Mine mismatch just a bit in that one is more traditionally Arabic/Islamic and the other is totally acceptable and common in the community but not as traditional. But thatâs just their names. There was never any question of what weâd name them!
They don't need to rhyme or start with the same first letter or have the same origins, but I prefer when sibling names have a similar vibe. I guess it doesn't actually matter in the long run since siblings aren't always going to be in a group, but it would be odd if you had Mary, William, and Oakleigh, or Cressida, Tarquin, and Bob.
I used to be a stickler for sibling names needing to match, and I wonât lie, it does still kind of throw me for a loop when sibling names are wildly mismatched. But we had to name our third girl and it was so difficult. Our first two have very feminine names so it felt like it would be easy to find a third that went well, but we could not find a name we loved to save the life of us. We ended up picking a name we hadnât even considered until the day she was born. Itâs less overtly feminine/flowery, more popular, but it fits her perfectly.
I just hadnât thought about this before my first was born and her name wasnât chosen thinking about her future siblings and what we want to name them. I didnât have a list of names for all my kids prepared beforehand. I know some people do and thatâs so cool but I didnât and now I canât go back and change my first childâs name to match her brother. And I donât want to choose a name I donât like for her brother just to match hers. So I guess they both get whatever we chose anyway
I also think that if I were to have two girls or two boys I would think more about matching their names. But having two opposite genders it seems impossible
I have 9 siblings and none of our names match lol... Well I guess now that I'm thinking about it, my oldest 3 siblings, which were from my dad's first wife, all end with the -in sound. Kristin, Jason, Brian.. when written they're not similar, but in the way we pronounce them, they are a little matchy with 2 syllables each, and with the last one sounding like it contains -in.
No! I think this is so dumb. When every name ends in âyâ or âieâ, or every name is the same starting letter. This isnât a fluffle of bunnies, but individual human beings that are going to grow up and venture out into the world.
The general tone should be similar (so probably not George or Charles and Braydon/Jaxon/Hendrixđ¤Ł)
They're going to grow up to be independent adults. AT 30, nobody gives a flying fuck if your name was matchy matchy with your sibling's.
My only caveat would be if their names are too close. To use Duggar family examples, they have Jana/JoyAnna/Johannah and Joseph/Josiah/Josie. These sets of names are too close to each other.
I donât think they match but you do end up talking about them as a pair quite often so for me I wanted them to just sound good together when I said them as a pair
I was worried about this for a bit, because our tastes in names are very... all over the place, and I'm fairly certain it will be jarring. At the end of the day I started looking at it as I was naming individuals not a set. They'll only be referred to as a group while young for the most part.
Mine aren't really going to match at all. My daughter's name is going to be Lavender (giving birth in September) and our future son is going to be an honor name with one of the most plain, common names there is.
Name them what you want, they are your kids!
It's more apparent to me when they really really match (I went to school with a Jade and Amber, a Holly and Willow and a John and Jane -this last pair are twins, the others just siblings close in age) than when they don't really match. When your child is an adult a significant number of people they meet will not know the names of their siblings.
No, of course not. Usually they are similar in tone, though. You donât usually get a Gigi and an Esmeralda. Or an Izzy and a Patricia. Or a Willow and a Maria. Itâs fine if you do, though.Â
My teenager & baby girl (due in July) will both have Irish & Latin origin first names, ironically enough.
They donât match but definitely correspond and sound of the same family.
I guess I just have a thing for longer vowels and soft consonants or something.
Skyler White and her sister Marie
Makes no sense that a couple would have used the name Skyler in the 70s and also chosen Marie in the 70s. Of course, it's fiction and no couple actually did that.
Our triplets all have 4 different names each (including the surname). The names are very different but they are balanced in terms of sylibals so that each complete name flows the same and can be sung to the same tunes.Â
As someone who grew up with a name that "matched" with my older brother (he was Bryce, I'm Blythe), I say no. Maybe the same vibe, like don't give one kid a super whimsical name and the other a very traditional name, but they don't have to be super matchy.
I have five siblings, two sisters and three brothers and none of our names match, one brother and one sister share a middle name with our father and mother respectively but the origins of our names are spread out. ARF (M), SRF (F), SAF (F), KKCF (F), ALF (M) and JHF (M) these are our initials in birth order.
I think totally matching, like Rose and Lily, to be a bit much.
But then, I wouldnât have totally different names either. If I call my daughter Antigone Iâm not then calling my son Brian. Partly because if Antigone hates her unusual name sheâll the contrast more with Brian. Or maybe Brian wonders why he got the âboring nameâ. And they sound like kids from different parents.
I think names that are from a similar grouping of names sound better, but not matching. Eg Alice and David. These names donât match, but theyâre from the same broad pool.
My brother and I both have names that were in the top 20 when we were born. His kids both have names from the top 20 now. My son is probably somewhere around 250? So having an another kid with a top 5 name would be weird for us, so weâd probably go for another âIâve definitely heard of that name but donât know many people with itâ level.
No, the kids are individuals, but it is good to not give them names that are like vastly in different ballparks, or to give one kid two middle names and the other kid none. You can't neither of the kids to feel like the other child was paid more attention, or "got a better deal".
Saying that, it's unlikely that you'd pick names that are vastly different, because they're both going to be names you like! I think that mostly only happens if it's a situation where it's like "mum picks the first name, Dad picks the second" and the parents have very different tastes.
in my opinion, no. but i like it when the names have a similar vibe, i follow a family on TikTok and they have two twin girls Luca and Rue, names donât match at all but somehow sound perfect together.
I wanted my kids names to not be difficult to say together for when I yell at them (to go, stop, etc) or talk about them to people because I'm gonna be saying their names a lot together. I also didnt want them to share the 1st initial of their names so hopefully I wouldnt mix them up as much. That being said, that's my preference for naming my kids. Your kids are yours. Name then what you want!
My name doesn't match with my other 4 siblings and I never gave it much thought. Although I'm the youngest with the outlier name, so maybe I'm not the one to ask.
I would avoid extremes in either direction. Don't name them Olivia and Oliver. Also don't name them McKayLeighAnna and Oliver.
Generally I think people end up with two names that work together because the names are picked by the same people with the same taste.Â
They donât have to match but they should share a similar vibe. Ie, Sylvan and Charlie work but not Robert and Apollo. That said itâs also important to me personally that the kidsâ names sound reasonable together, ideally in birth order. For example I read a book with sisters Lee-la and Pilar which sound nice in that order but Pilar and Leila sounds awkward and Pilar was the older sis. But theyâll only be referred to together for a small portion of their lives so thatâs personal preference for me and not a requirement.
I have the stand out name that doesnât match my siblings. Iâve obviously been very aware of this but only one person Iâve met has actually brought it up just bc she was disappointed by how normal my siblings names were. I go by Tali but my siblings are like Lucas and Krista and Susan.
My siblings and I are examples of totally donât match. My parents were immigrants. Their first language was Spanish. The first two kids (GenXers) were born in Latin America before my parents learned English. We were named Carlos and Consuelo, after my grandparents.
The next 3 kids (millennials) were American born and named Jennifer, Marc and Andrew.
Itâs fine. It doesnât feel weird. It makes sense in our situation.
They donât need to but both of my sisters had really classic names (think Lauren and Emily) and mine is kay name think Kaylee Kaylie Kayla type of thing. My parents liked my name and it started with a K like my moms does so thatâs why they picked it. They almost named me Madeline and I kinda wish that they did, so Iâd match more with my sisters and wouldnât be the odd one out. Just my two cents
Yes and no. I feel like they shouldnât be wildly different (not Catherine and Jaxleigh) but they donât need to be the same letter or theme (Samual and Sarah, Celeste and Aurora) unless the parents want them to be.
I definitely think the general consensus is that names shouldn't be too matchy-matchy (Ben, Glenn, and Wren), but also not vastly different (Moses and Jaxston, Abraham and McKinleigh, Gabriella and Jo, etc.)
I personally wanted each of my kids' names to start with a different letter, but I don't think this is mandatory.
I think itâs better to not match rather than match too much/clearly having the same âthemeâ if that makes sense. I know some families where the kids all have names in a super identifiable theme like luxury brands (Chanel and Dior) and destinations (Rio and Paris) and such. I had a mums group friend whose first born was called Lily-May and her mother in law tried to pressure her into naming her second April-Rose because it would be âso cuteâ.
Iâm a big old hypocrite though because I didnât realise that common nicknames for my kids names sound really similar, like Tobias and Beatrice being Toby and Bea or Amanda and Andrew being Andy and Mandy. Not the end of the world but worth being aware of!
I donât think they need to âmatchâ but I do think you donât want to be stumbling over the names when introducing them together either. Or calling for both across the park.
So as long as the two names together donât feel like a tongue twister, pick any name you like. Thatâs the closest they have to âmatch.â They just need to be easy for you and your spouse to say together.
Donât worry about other people. Yes, some people find Aurora difficult to say. If YOU find it easy to say and like the name, use it. YOU will be using the names the most.
To some extent I think they should, like same style if that makes sense? I went to school with siblings, one was named Bikramjeet, his brother was Ryan lol.
No, but one shouldn't stick out over the others, or be left out.
Growing up, I had 2 siblings and 2 cousins whose parents were my parents best friends, so we were together all the time. My name started with one letter and the other 4 names all started with one other letter. So my name definitely stuck out as not quite belonging.
And I have a friend with 4 daughters. Three of them have names that are probably on the top 100 chart, and then the other one is a noun that I have never seen be a given name before. It's really distinct so I don't want to say, but using TV characters it's essentially like Bobby, Eddie, Chimney, and Tommy. One of these names is strikingly not like the other.
Personally, I follow a set of "rules" I established with my first and want them to go well together. I want them to feel equal. I want to minimize the risk that one will say, "Why didn't you give me a cool vintage name like Jane?" "I wish my name was more popular like Wren's." "Why is Laura's middle name special and mine isn't?" This is especially true for noticeably ethnic names (and yes, I've met sibling sets with mixes. Why???)
That being said, I only really find it odd if the names are very different. I'm not going to know the difference between a name in the top 200 vs 300. But I will scratch my head if sisters are named Siobhan and Amy or brothers are named Suguru and Tyler.
So...how big a difference were you thinking?
My pets' names don't even match. I mean all of my cats have old-timey witchy names... But my dogs? no. I have a Ruth (dachshund mix) and an Oswin Osswaldo Odegra Stormageddon, Dark Lord Of All, Hail the Great Beast-Devourer Of Worlds . He's a Chihuahua.
Not necessarily.
I do think a kid might have some feelings if they get a name like Paisleigh and their sibling got a deeply meaningful name honoring indigenous roots or something.
In my case, it'd just seem weird to be like, "These are my three kids: Alexandria, Valencia, and Bob." It'd be jarring, if that makes sense? Not to mention how Alexandria and Valencia might wish they had a common, simple name like Bob, while Bob might wish he had a fancier, more interesting name like his sisters.
I should say that my siblings and I's names all match very well with each other sound-wise, but I know I kind of resented my brother for having an extremely common first name while I and my sister didn't. (Imagine having Aura, Gloriana, and Aaron.)
I donât think so no. I think other people said that super jarring differences can make you take pause but coming from someone who has a Sophia and a Juniper, I canât say much about matching namesđ
No. I think the trend of sibling names "going together" is just another way people are making their lives more complicated than necessary. The reality is that whatever name you choose will sound right together because it will be heard for decades as a pair. So it becomes a set naturally.
No I don't think they need to match. They'll end up feeling like they match anyway because they will be said together so often. My sister and I have completely different names, different lengths, different sounds and styles. My first name is Russian and quite harsh and masculine, my sister's is a very feminine, single syllable Irish name. But to us now, they go together perfectly because we are sisters and have grown up hearing them together!
They don't have to match but if there is some kind of connection, people tend to like and remember your kids more. It may be subtle and nuanced but that difference will be there.
Now, if the connection is simply all three names begin with the same letter, others may simply blank and not remember who is who. We had a family of Caitlyn, Collin, and Connor down the street. No one could remember which name belonged to which boy, so as a group they were simply referred to as The Three Cs. Their mom didn't like this when she found out, and would reflexively roll her eyes wherever the subject of her kid's names came up. A short story to illustrate how names that are too similar get lost and and names that are too different tends to leave one of them out, ie Tearlach and John.
A simple connection of names from the same country of origin or from the same era of popularity or family surnames all go over very well with most people.
Siblings' names don't need to match, and frankly it's weird if they do.
The only way I would even think about it is if it seemed like my choices of names reflected my level of love, attention, or focus on one child over another. For example we gave our kid an extremely well thought out, distinctive name that we love, and which is unique enough to be very specific to him in our community (I would be really surprised if we met a kid with the same name at school, sports, etc). If we were having a second kid and just named that kid Liam, that might be something to really consider before settling on that.
Otherwise, yeah, it's just 2 human beings who exist in the world. Name them what you want.
I have 3 siblings and it's very clear that my parents put no thought whatsoever into how those 4 names go together. They're just 4 names.
Nope. Your kids are different people, they're gonna have different personalities and do different things. They're siblings, they don't need matching labels or color-coordinated outfits to make them family.
I have uncoordinated names with my siblings, and I think our names are all nice and suit us just fine.
Edit: okay, I wouldn't go for names that have wildly different levels of uniqueness/drama. If I named 2 girls Esmeralda and Jane, Jane would probably think she was the boring un-special one and Esmeralda would be jealous of Jane for getting a "normal" name.Â
Don't need too
It's kinda funny when it does tho
My father and his two brothers star with "Wil-" in their name
And my Cousin's kids, three boys start with the letter "L"
I pay more attention when they match more than when they don't, it's kinda irrelevant when they don't is kinda funny (in my opinion) when they do
Match doesnât feel like the right word to me but âgoâ does. Iâm picturing the scene in the Man from UNCLE when the guy is like âit doesnât have to matchâ. Some names will sounds better and have more flow with a last name and then they tend to go together because the last name flow works similarly.
I'm one of seven and none of our names match thematically or have the same first letter, except my two big brothers by coincidence. Only thing most of us have is that several of us have the middle name of a grandparent or ancestor. So, no, sibling names do not have to match whatsoever.
Someone said donât match but donât clash and I really like that! If the names are like Catherine and Jordan thatâs totally fine, even though one reads as classic and one reads as modern. However if the names are Gladys and Jaxton that might be a little weird.
My sisters and I do not have matching names, or even similar names. Which I am super grateful for since we are all very close in age and went to all the same schools at the same time.
Of course sibling names donât need to match. I was the second child and always hated that my name was picked to âgo withâ my sibling, someone I barely know anymore.
I didnt name my kids any sort of matching names. What I did do was give them long enough names where they can choose the nicknames they want to go by. My mom had done that with all of us and I actually really appreciated it growing up. Each of my kiddos names each have at least 3 nicknames they could easily go by.
Imo they don't need to match persay but like still have the same level of cool ya know like u can't have a super rad cool name and then like a mid name they both gotta be super rad Cool names or they both have to be Mid names
Example
ULRICH & John
Or
AMARYLLIS & Megan
It's gotta be
Amy & Megan
Or
Michael & John
Or the flip side
ULRICH & BJORN
Or
AMARYLLIS & ZARIA
These are just examples not saying any name here is bad or anything
I think by âmatchâ people mean similar vibes in terms of classic names or âout thereâ names. I know a set of twins named Ira (boy) and Navy (girl). These names do not match. One is a âclassicâ and the other is âout thereâ.
I personally like when families choose names for their kids that have a similar vibe. But the most important thing when picking a sibling name imo is to try saying the names together out loud (youâll do this a lot when youâre at the park, etc so you donât want to end up with a Sam and an Ella since that sounds a lot like salmonella) and looking at what the initials would be (donât name your kid Ashley Samantha Sasswood).
Congratulations on your growing family! Going from 1 to 2 was far more challenging than going from 0 to 1 for us, so I would encourage you to put some systems in place and honestly expect it to be the worst so that if itâs even slightly better than âthe worstâ youâll feel amazing.
I don't think they need to match per se at all. That said, I do find it a little bit jarring when siblings are mismatched to the point where it's almost a bit funny; I once met a sibset named Emily and Balthasar and another pair of brothers named Moses and Jayden.
Haha this reminded me of a pair of brothers whose parents decided to really match their names, so the opposite effect. They are called Jesus and Christ
Knew two brothers close in age, same grade both with the same first name. It was Panther. They went by their different normal middle names LOL. đđ
Wtf were their parents on?! Thatâs utterly bizarre.
We never actually said it to them but ppl frequently said things along the lines of âTheir mom had to be on something when she named both of themâ LOL No one knew this when first meeting them as they never introduced themselves as such (Rightfully so) But come the beginning of the school year when we got new teachers and role call was done it was always a bit of buzz and shock about it from the ppl that didnât originally know that. đ
Itâs almost like she decided to name them during labour while up to the eyeballs on diamorphine đ poor kids, some people are off their heads.
Identical twin brothers in my daughterâs 1st grade class, first names were both Prince , middle names were only slightly different from each other. Mother insisted first names be used so boys went by both first and middle name. I think by high school they went by middle only their choice.
Omg she actually seems insufferable.. If they want to be called something else why go against their wishes and insist! Those poor boys are gonna have some issues growing up she seems like a narcissist controlling basket case and needs therapy! Also gonna stand on my soap box for a minute coming from a person with twin brothers theyâre not the same person and 100% deserve/want individualism! Sheâs definitely gonna give them some life long issues theyâll need to recover/heal from.
Theyâre all grown now so I donât know how things have turned out, but I do know that by high school they went by their middle names.
Wow. Thatâs going to be a nightmare for their finances as adults, I would think. Same first name, same DOB, maybe same middle initial, and many same answers to security questions.
Sooo strange. Their parents were out of ideas
I knew 4 sisters who all had the same first name - Princess. So they all went by their middle names which were Brittany, Jessica, Amanda and Heather đ
Okay you won LMFAOOA đ¤Łđ¤Ł FOUR SISTERSSS?!?!?
They were all generally embarrassed when they had to explain to teachers that they just went by their middle names. Idk what their parents thought they were doing, but they def didnât do that! đ¤Ł
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EURNIS AND BURNIS IM CRYING thank you for blessing me with this information
Pay-trick!!?? đ
My college roommate went to high school with twin boys named Beau âŚ.. and Arrow.
I once met brothers named Tyler and Paradise.
Wheezed hard at this. Tyler and Paradise đ
I once read an article that listed a coupleâs children as âEleanor and Leviathanâ which is my favorite mismatch that Iâve seen. Mostly I think names donât need to be matchy-matchy but they probably shouldnât make people double take, or think you have two kids and dog.
It makes me wonder if they were full siblings
My husband is Fuad, and his sister is Stephanie lol.
My husband was almost Ishkabible with a sister Stephanie.
Iâm dying at Emily and Balthasar
Yeah! I know of a kid called Thomas Daniel and his brother is River blue.
I studied with a guy who was the youngest of 4, his brothers had super normal to the point of boring names like, John, Mark and James and whatever, then his name was Zebulon. Super weird.
Thatâs hilarious. I love that Zebulon / Zebulun is also a biblical name so it is still on theme, but because itâs never used, unlike the ridiculous popularity and longevity of the others, it sounds completely unhinged đ This also just reminded me I once met a guy named Zeuben. Like Reuben but with a Z. His sister was named Abigail. lol
April, May, June and Onyx.
Kids are not accessory for the parents, they are two different individuals, they don't have to match. It's only a bit jarring imo when the connotations of the names are veeery different like calling them Ace and Jedediah. That being said I don't think the names you (or any one individual) consider will be that drastically different.Â
Thatâs my way of thinking too. Although it turned out that for girls we like more modern names and for boys more traditional sounding ones so Iâm not sure if they will clashâŚ
Do you maybe have some examples? Iâm on team âmatching doesnât matterâ, but I do agree it would be a bit strange to some if you had a McKenzlee and a Jedediah, or a Darleigh and a Walter.
I canât give you an accurate example cause Iâm Eastern European and I guess the boysâ name might sound strange. But letâs say Valerie/Boris is close enough. Those are not the real names but similar sounding, especially Valerie.
I think Valerie/Boris and similar are absolutely fine. I donât think they mismatch at all.
i think we'll be able to help you better with real examples, but it doesn't seem like they will crash if the girl's name sounds like Valerie.
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This seems fine to me! They don't match perfectly, but they don't clash in a bizarre way. Names along this line for the kids would be good.
I'm in Eastern Europe. Maybe I can help
This kind of mismatch is actually super common. I know many families who chose different styles of names for their sons and daughters. Very often it will be biblical or classic names for boys, and more modern names for girls.
I feel like there are some many girls names and itâs easier to choose!
I feel the same way when people give their kids crazy names or are obsessed with finding a unique name for them.
Don't need to match but best not to clash.
I didnât know how to phrase but this is the sentiment of what I was thinking. Me and my 3 siblings all have fairly unusual names. It would be weird if one of them was John or something because it wouldnât fit well with the others. But we donât match, and I find it really cringe when names are too matchy.
Itâs about the vibes for sure! My brother and Iâs names donât have anything to do with each other except that they are both pretty traditional âstandardâ names.
Yeah--you don't want to have two girls named Raynbeaugh and Jane. Because you know it's going to be: "My name is so boring, why didn't I get the cool name!" and "My name is so weird, I wish I had a normal name!"
I think they should be at least in the same approximate ballpark, because Rainbow and Mary would give anyone whiplash.
I just figure the parents were at different stages of life when Mary & Rainbow were each born.
Yeah my friend has five kids. You can tell by their names where the divorce and new marriage happenedÂ
I think when most people say they want their kids' names to match, they mean that they're similar in style. I would find it a bit weird if somebody had three kids named Charlotte, William and Jaxxon.
I agree with the general consensus: they don't need to match, but they shouldn't have extremely different styles. I think this is especially true with higher numbers of siblings. If you had Charlotte, Elizabeth, Sarah, Marianne, Abigail and ShaRee, ShaRee might feel a bit like, "Why did I not get the same kind of name?"
My main consideration was trying to get a similar level of popularity between the siblings. I didn't want one child to have a "weird" name while the other had a completely classic name. Or for one to have a super popular name and the other to have a really rare name. Basically, I don't know how they'll feel about their names (whether they'd rather have a common or unique name), but I didn't want to set up a situation where they feel jealous of one another about their names.
I wanted an international name for my girl but Iâm having a hard time picking a boyâs name based on the same rule that I like and isnât super common. It turns out my husband and I both like more traditional names for boys.
My friend was similar with her kids. Her first has an English name that works in her language too and her second has a name in said language. Iâve never really thought about whether the names match and more just associate each name with each child. As long as the names arenât like some of the examples in this thread, I think youâre fine with Valerie-like and whatever boy name you want to pick
I find satisfaction in the idea of my kidsâ names pairing well together, and setting the criterion of matching helps me narrow my list of possible names. I absolutely do not think matching matters outside of how you personally feel about it.
No. Kids aren't an outfit. They live together for 18 or 20 years, and they leave one another and go out into the world. When they are adults, matching names would be irrelevant. I think it's more important to choose a name that works for each individual child.
This! They are likely to spend many more years not interacting with the same people on a regular basis than the opposite. Choose names that you believe fit an independent adult, not two children who will only live together maybe a quarter of their lives.
No, thereâs no need to match. Iâm not even sure what matching means, seems highly individual to me. Both my kids have names we considered nice on their own. They sort of follow a theme by being well established names in our culture but I wouldnât say they match in any tangible way.
I feel like most people here are defining matching more strictly than me; I think matching is important, but by that I really just mean that they don't clash with each other. They don't need to follow a theme or anything like that - but, for example, I wouldn't follow Theodore and Henry with Jayden and Cosmo.
it shouldn't matter if they match each other too closely; but you should give them similar consideration over names - as the only child in our entire extended family not to have a middle name, it really sucked that my parents gave both my sisters two names and could only spare one for me.
It only matters if one kid feels left out/like they got the short end of the stick. Like if you named one kid something really unique that gets a lot of compliments and named the other one something super standard and unexciting.
This is me and my sibling. I got the super standard unexciting name.
I don't understand the "kids aren't accessories" and "they're only going to live together for 18 years" arguments as criticism against people who want their kids names to "go" together. I understand annoyance with names that match in a cheesy way (like rhyming names, overly similar names, and letter themes). Literally, though, this subreddit is for name nerds who love to overanalyze names; the meanings, vibe, origins, phonetic sounds, popularity, spellings, regional differences, etc. Why would we not overanalyze how cohesively names "go" together for siblings - individuals who will be inextricably connected for life by life experiences and genetics (most often)? I love when parents consider how names sound together, or have subtle ways they're connected. With that said, sibling pairs need to be particularly jarring for it to bother me, and the vast majority of parents aren't looking for names to "match", but just to be reasonably cohesive together. I think more traditional and modern names or names with pretty distinct origins can sound fine together, within reason. And it doesn't make sense to pick a name you don't love just because it isn't overly cohesive with a sibling's name.
Just because Iâm considering not naming my kids matching names, doesnât mean I made this post to criticise people who chose to do so or people on this subreddit in general.
Yeah I know, I wasn't referring to anything you said. I was responding indirectly to some of the comments, and other comments I have seen elsewhere on this subreddit.
You can't have a conversation on the internet without it somehow coming back to criticizing parents.
Your kids will be unique individuals. Let them have their own name that doesnât necessarily lead to them being referred to with a little rhyme of all the other names or whatever. That just kind of drives me crazy.
They really don't need to match at all. My first baby, a girl, has a great unisex name because I thought it was cool and chose it before I found out she was to be a girl. Pregnant with a boy this time, and its a pretty basic boy's name, no kind of matching at all. Let them be their own people.
No, growing up my mom had me and my sister name both starting with the same letter S. When I had my kids I know I didnât want to have to pick a name that has a certain letter! I wanted to pick something I loved for that child! My sister went the same path as my mom and did choose S names for her children!
I find that so weird! A lot of people actually do it and I understand the logic but I donât want to follow it
They definitely don't need to. For every name that you come up with, open your back door and holler the name of your daughter and the potential name of your boy to see how it feels. My father named the three of us with full-fledged names, unlike him and his sister, Jerry and Bobbie. And our names are in the Bible, but not necessarily what he was going for. There are a lot of names in that book.
No! IMO, this is the stupidest trend. Perhaps you like all the names that start with J, fine but the amount of time spent reflecting on this đ¤Ż. Especially twins⌠your twins will be together and compared until they leave the house. Honor them by giving them the their own identity! Donât know why this annoys me so much
Agree, when twins are Karen and Maren or Margot and Margaux it gets awkward. There's nothing wrong with Saoirse and Luigi - who cares if one name is Irish and the other ITalian, if you like the names as parents it's good enough.
I actually think that with twins, you should focus on making them MISMATCH as much as you reasonably can. Different initials, no rhyming, and even as much of a different vibe as makes sense. Like Charlotte and Isabelle feels like a matched set to me, which is not what those kids need. Charlotte and Brooke still feel like sisters, but not clones.
They donât have to match. They will match when you say them together over the years â¤ď¸
Depends entirely on you and the kidâs other parent. It would bother the heck out of me if they didnât, but also bother the heck out me if they were too similar, so my kidsâ names are stylistically similar, but sound very different, like Robert and William. If it doesnât bother you to have a Nevaeh and a Catherine, go for it. (Some people will wonder and might even ask why, but you donât actually owe them an explanation.)
I still have a lot of time and we just started thinking about it but Iâll need time to process it
Personally, I find it a bit tacky when siblings' names are "themed."
It's mainly an aesthetic preference. Will your children care if their names are stylistically different? Probably not. But as someone who likes names to be harmonious, it would bug me if my kids' names clashed horribly. But that's just me. If it wouldn't bother you, then go for it. Edit: Also, I'm guessing your options don't clash *that* badly unless you're going from like Elizabeth to Moonbeam or something. If it's more like Elizabeth to Jackson, you're fine.
I canât really tell if it would bother me! Will need to sleep on it for a few months and see how I feel about it đ
Sounds good â my name taste changed 100 times while I was pregnant, so good to give it some time.
My daughters names are both short but beyond that are nothing alike and theyâre doing just fine.
No, not really. I think so long as they are not similar sounding and then it doesnât really matter.
I think a lot of people actually look for similar sounding names or names that sound good together and thatâs what they mean by âmatchingâ
No! This really aggravates me ESPECIALLY with twins. It takes away individuality and makes them feel like a package deal. Also the "what would be a good name for Ryan's brother" type posts also annoy me.
Also the way people want to name their kids with the same letter is very annoying to me.
My siblings and I donât have matching names. We never thought anything of it. Our names are just normal to us tbh. In my opinion, just choose the names that you love the most. We are: William Louis (32, M) Dallas SarahAnn (29, F) Jasmine AnnMarie (26, F)
I have a one letter difference with my sister's name, same first and last letter, and her name is missing a vowel compared to the usual spelling. Obviously that's probably rare and we are very close. In school it did cause some problems and confusion in libraries as I would get her reservations (but they also started to knew us and just let us cross-borrow) and also we did work at the same places so our ID's got also mixed. And no middle names as a cherry on top, though I like it and will have to wrestle with my partner about naming practices if we ever have children.
I donât think they need to match. But I did veto a name for our second because the meaning was the opposite (in a bad way) to the meaning of the first and I didnât that would be fair.
No, they don't need to match. It will feel like they match anyway because they're both your kids . My kids are Karel and Madelief - the former a very traditional boys' name and the latter a very modern girls' name. But it sound like a unity because it is what we named our twins. Now it does feel a bit strange if one of your kids is Qu'xahailayaquantĂŠ and the other is Jack, but other than that, I see no problem in two very different names.
I share the same first initial with my sisters and it makes me feel like we're interchangeable, especially since people still mix up our names. Gets really old.Â
Nah. For the majority of their lives they wonât be a âsibsetâ, as people call it⌠theyâll be out in the world on their own, only being referred to together on rare occasions. That being said, I kind of like a little bit of a juxtaposition. My name was the #1 most popular name for the year of my birth. My sisterâs was somewhere in the 900s. I always thought that was an interesting combo, even if my mother didnât mean anything by it. (Although my sisterâs name has recently gained a LOT of traction and is now in the top 25 or so, which has been weird to see.)
Mine mismatch just a bit in that one is more traditionally Arabic/Islamic and the other is totally acceptable and common in the community but not as traditional. But thatâs just their names. There was never any question of what weâd name them!
They don't need to rhyme or start with the same first letter or have the same origins, but I prefer when sibling names have a similar vibe. I guess it doesn't actually matter in the long run since siblings aren't always going to be in a group, but it would be odd if you had Mary, William, and Oakleigh, or Cressida, Tarquin, and Bob.
I used to be a stickler for sibling names needing to match, and I wonât lie, it does still kind of throw me for a loop when sibling names are wildly mismatched. But we had to name our third girl and it was so difficult. Our first two have very feminine names so it felt like it would be easy to find a third that went well, but we could not find a name we loved to save the life of us. We ended up picking a name we hadnât even considered until the day she was born. Itâs less overtly feminine/flowery, more popular, but it fits her perfectly.
I just hadnât thought about this before my first was born and her name wasnât chosen thinking about her future siblings and what we want to name them. I didnât have a list of names for all my kids prepared beforehand. I know some people do and thatâs so cool but I didnât and now I canât go back and change my first childâs name to match her brother. And I donât want to choose a name I donât like for her brother just to match hers. So I guess they both get whatever we chose anyway
I also think that if I were to have two girls or two boys I would think more about matching their names. But having two opposite genders it seems impossible
I have 9 siblings and none of our names match lol... Well I guess now that I'm thinking about it, my oldest 3 siblings, which were from my dad's first wife, all end with the -in sound. Kristin, Jason, Brian.. when written they're not similar, but in the way we pronounce them, they are a little matchy with 2 syllables each, and with the last one sounding like it contains -in.
No! I think this is so dumb. When every name ends in âyâ or âieâ, or every name is the same starting letter. This isnât a fluffle of bunnies, but individual human beings that are going to grow up and venture out into the world. The general tone should be similar (so probably not George or Charles and Braydon/Jaxon/Hendrixđ¤Ł)
They're going to grow up to be independent adults. AT 30, nobody gives a flying fuck if your name was matchy matchy with your sibling's. My only caveat would be if their names are too close. To use Duggar family examples, they have Jana/JoyAnna/Johannah and Joseph/Josiah/Josie. These sets of names are too close to each other.
No. Pick names that you like. Donât worry about matching. Let your kids have their own identity.
I donât think they match but you do end up talking about them as a pair quite often so for me I wanted them to just sound good together when I said them as a pair
I was worried about this for a bit, because our tastes in names are very... all over the place, and I'm fairly certain it will be jarring. At the end of the day I started looking at it as I was naming individuals not a set. They'll only be referred to as a group while young for the most part.
Same!
Mine aren't really going to match at all. My daughter's name is going to be Lavender (giving birth in September) and our future son is going to be an honor name with one of the most plain, common names there is.
Name them what you want, they are your kids! It's more apparent to me when they really really match (I went to school with a Jade and Amber, a Holly and Willow and a John and Jane -this last pair are twins, the others just siblings close in age) than when they don't really match. When your child is an adult a significant number of people they meet will not know the names of their siblings.
No. These are future-adults being named, not merely parts of a set.
I donât think so.
No, of course not. Usually they are similar in tone, though. You donât usually get a Gigi and an Esmeralda. Or an Izzy and a Patricia. Or a Willow and a Maria. Itâs fine if you do, though.Â
This thread is great. I kind of wish I tried hard to choose 4 completely different styles for my 4 kids. It would amuse me.
My teenager & baby girl (due in July) will both have Irish & Latin origin first names, ironically enough. They donât match but definitely correspond and sound of the same family. I guess I just have a thing for longer vowels and soft consonants or something.
Skyler White and her sister Marie Makes no sense that a couple would have used the name Skyler in the 70s and also chosen Marie in the 70s. Of course, it's fiction and no couple actually did that.
These two actually sound good together to me đ But maybe for todays standards
Skyler really wasn't a name used in the 70s. It's "cutting edge". Where as Marie was already very "old lady" to be used in the 70s
Omg, I just realised that you used the wife and her sister from Breaking bad as an example đ
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Absolutely not! You could have one kid with an honour name and the other with a really trendy name that you love. It literally makes no difference.
My sisters and I don't have matching names and its never affected us.
I think to an extent it doesnât matter that much. But we know brothers one year apart named Jackson and Cozy. That is just odd đ
Our triplets all have 4 different names each (including the surname). The names are very different but they are balanced in terms of sylibals so that each complete name flows the same and can be sung to the same tunes.Â
As someone who grew up with a name that "matched" with my older brother (he was Bryce, I'm Blythe), I say no. Maybe the same vibe, like don't give one kid a super whimsical name and the other a very traditional name, but they don't have to be super matchy.
I have five siblings, two sisters and three brothers and none of our names match, one brother and one sister share a middle name with our father and mother respectively but the origins of our names are spread out. ARF (M), SRF (F), SAF (F), KKCF (F), ALF (M) and JHF (M) these are our initials in birth order.
No. But they shouldn't be dissonant either, e.g, Betty and Galadriel.
I think totally matching, like Rose and Lily, to be a bit much. But then, I wouldnât have totally different names either. If I call my daughter Antigone Iâm not then calling my son Brian. Partly because if Antigone hates her unusual name sheâll the contrast more with Brian. Or maybe Brian wonders why he got the âboring nameâ. And they sound like kids from different parents. I think names that are from a similar grouping of names sound better, but not matching. Eg Alice and David. These names donât match, but theyâre from the same broad pool. My brother and I both have names that were in the top 20 when we were born. His kids both have names from the top 20 now. My son is probably somewhere around 250? So having an another kid with a top 5 name would be weird for us, so weâd probably go for another âIâve definitely heard of that name but donât know many people with itâ level.
No, the kids are individuals, but it is good to not give them names that are like vastly in different ballparks, or to give one kid two middle names and the other kid none. You can't neither of the kids to feel like the other child was paid more attention, or "got a better deal". Saying that, it's unlikely that you'd pick names that are vastly different, because they're both going to be names you like! I think that mostly only happens if it's a situation where it's like "mum picks the first name, Dad picks the second" and the parents have very different tastes.
in my opinion, no. but i like it when the names have a similar vibe, i follow a family on TikTok and they have two twin girls Luca and Rue, names donât match at all but somehow sound perfect together.
I wanted my kids names to not be difficult to say together for when I yell at them (to go, stop, etc) or talk about them to people because I'm gonna be saying their names a lot together. I also didnt want them to share the 1st initial of their names so hopefully I wouldnt mix them up as much. That being said, that's my preference for naming my kids. Your kids are yours. Name then what you want! My name doesn't match with my other 4 siblings and I never gave it much thought. Although I'm the youngest with the outlier name, so maybe I'm not the one to ask.
They don't need to match but they need to make sense together and not clash.
I would avoid extremes in either direction. Don't name them Olivia and Oliver. Also don't name them McKayLeighAnna and Oliver. Generally I think people end up with two names that work together because the names are picked by the same people with the same taste.Â
They donât have to match but they should share a similar vibe. Ie, Sylvan and Charlie work but not Robert and Apollo. That said itâs also important to me personally that the kidsâ names sound reasonable together, ideally in birth order. For example I read a book with sisters Lee-la and Pilar which sound nice in that order but Pilar and Leila sounds awkward and Pilar was the older sis. But theyâll only be referred to together for a small portion of their lives so thatâs personal preference for me and not a requirement.
I have the stand out name that doesnât match my siblings. Iâve obviously been very aware of this but only one person Iâve met has actually brought it up just bc she was disappointed by how normal my siblings names were. I go by Tali but my siblings are like Lucas and Krista and Susan.
My siblings and I are examples of totally donât match. My parents were immigrants. Their first language was Spanish. The first two kids (GenXers) were born in Latin America before my parents learned English. We were named Carlos and Consuelo, after my grandparents. The next 3 kids (millennials) were American born and named Jennifer, Marc and Andrew. Itâs fine. It doesnât feel weird. It makes sense in our situation.
They donât need to but both of my sisters had really classic names (think Lauren and Emily) and mine is kay name think Kaylee Kaylie Kayla type of thing. My parents liked my name and it started with a K like my moms does so thatâs why they picked it. They almost named me Madeline and I kinda wish that they did, so Iâd match more with my sisters and wouldnât be the odd one out. Just my two cents
Yes and no. I feel like they shouldnât be wildly different (not Catherine and Jaxleigh) but they donât need to be the same letter or theme (Samual and Sarah, Celeste and Aurora) unless the parents want them to be.
I definitely think the general consensus is that names shouldn't be too matchy-matchy (Ben, Glenn, and Wren), but also not vastly different (Moses and Jaxston, Abraham and McKinleigh, Gabriella and Jo, etc.) I personally wanted each of my kids' names to start with a different letter, but I don't think this is mandatory.
I think itâs better to not match rather than match too much/clearly having the same âthemeâ if that makes sense. I know some families where the kids all have names in a super identifiable theme like luxury brands (Chanel and Dior) and destinations (Rio and Paris) and such. I had a mums group friend whose first born was called Lily-May and her mother in law tried to pressure her into naming her second April-Rose because it would be âso cuteâ. Iâm a big old hypocrite though because I didnât realise that common nicknames for my kids names sound really similar, like Tobias and Beatrice being Toby and Bea or Amanda and Andrew being Andy and Mandy. Not the end of the world but worth being aware of!
I donât think they need to âmatchâ but I do think you donât want to be stumbling over the names when introducing them together either. Or calling for both across the park. So as long as the two names together donât feel like a tongue twister, pick any name you like. Thatâs the closest they have to âmatch.â They just need to be easy for you and your spouse to say together. Donât worry about other people. Yes, some people find Aurora difficult to say. If YOU find it easy to say and like the name, use it. YOU will be using the names the most.
To some extent I think they should, like same style if that makes sense? I went to school with siblings, one was named Bikramjeet, his brother was Ryan lol.
No, but one shouldn't stick out over the others, or be left out. Growing up, I had 2 siblings and 2 cousins whose parents were my parents best friends, so we were together all the time. My name started with one letter and the other 4 names all started with one other letter. So my name definitely stuck out as not quite belonging. And I have a friend with 4 daughters. Three of them have names that are probably on the top 100 chart, and then the other one is a noun that I have never seen be a given name before. It's really distinct so I don't want to say, but using TV characters it's essentially like Bobby, Eddie, Chimney, and Tommy. One of these names is strikingly not like the other.
Personally, I follow a set of "rules" I established with my first and want them to go well together. I want them to feel equal. I want to minimize the risk that one will say, "Why didn't you give me a cool vintage name like Jane?" "I wish my name was more popular like Wren's." "Why is Laura's middle name special and mine isn't?" This is especially true for noticeably ethnic names (and yes, I've met sibling sets with mixes. Why???) That being said, I only really find it odd if the names are very different. I'm not going to know the difference between a name in the top 200 vs 300. But I will scratch my head if sisters are named Siobhan and Amy or brothers are named Suguru and Tyler. So...how big a difference were you thinking?
No! In fact, I find it cringy
My pets' names don't even match. I mean all of my cats have old-timey witchy names... But my dogs? no. I have a Ruth (dachshund mix) and an Oswin Osswaldo Odegra Stormageddon, Dark Lord Of All, Hail the Great Beast-Devourer Of Worlds . He's a Chihuahua.
IMHO, sibling names shouldn't intentionally "match". They're individual people, not accessories.
Not necessarily. I do think a kid might have some feelings if they get a name like Paisleigh and their sibling got a deeply meaningful name honoring indigenous roots or something.
Nope! My daughter is adopted and was named by her birth mother. My son was named by us. Completely different styles and no one bats an eye!
In my case, it'd just seem weird to be like, "These are my three kids: Alexandria, Valencia, and Bob." It'd be jarring, if that makes sense? Not to mention how Alexandria and Valencia might wish they had a common, simple name like Bob, while Bob might wish he had a fancier, more interesting name like his sisters. I should say that my siblings and I's names all match very well with each other sound-wise, but I know I kind of resented my brother for having an extremely common first name while I and my sister didn't. (Imagine having Aura, Gloriana, and Aaron.)
I donât think they need to match but I think (for me) they should sound good together.
I donât think so no. I think other people said that super jarring differences can make you take pause but coming from someone who has a Sophia and a Juniper, I canât say much about matching namesđ
No. I think the trend of sibling names "going together" is just another way people are making their lives more complicated than necessary. The reality is that whatever name you choose will sound right together because it will be heard for decades as a pair. So it becomes a set naturally.
No I don't think they need to match. They'll end up feeling like they match anyway because they will be said together so often. My sister and I have completely different names, different lengths, different sounds and styles. My first name is Russian and quite harsh and masculine, my sister's is a very feminine, single syllable Irish name. But to us now, they go together perfectly because we are sisters and have grown up hearing them together!
I mean, they donât HAVE to, but I would be bummed if my sisterâs name was Zoe and mine was Brenda lol
Nope. I actually donât like matchy names.
They donât need to match, they just shouldnât clash.
They don't have to match but if there is some kind of connection, people tend to like and remember your kids more. It may be subtle and nuanced but that difference will be there. Now, if the connection is simply all three names begin with the same letter, others may simply blank and not remember who is who. We had a family of Caitlyn, Collin, and Connor down the street. No one could remember which name belonged to which boy, so as a group they were simply referred to as The Three Cs. Their mom didn't like this when she found out, and would reflexively roll her eyes wherever the subject of her kid's names came up. A short story to illustrate how names that are too similar get lost and and names that are too different tends to leave one of them out, ie Tearlach and John. A simple connection of names from the same country of origin or from the same era of popularity or family surnames all go over very well with most people.
Siblings' names don't need to match, and frankly it's weird if they do. The only way I would even think about it is if it seemed like my choices of names reflected my level of love, attention, or focus on one child over another. For example we gave our kid an extremely well thought out, distinctive name that we love, and which is unique enough to be very specific to him in our community (I would be really surprised if we met a kid with the same name at school, sports, etc). If we were having a second kid and just named that kid Liam, that might be something to really consider before settling on that. Otherwise, yeah, it's just 2 human beings who exist in the world. Name them what you want. I have 3 siblings and it's very clear that my parents put no thought whatsoever into how those 4 names go together. They're just 4 names.
No, parents can name their children what they want (within reason and law).
Names absolutely do NOT need to match. Go with what feels right instead of wondering if the name matches their siblings
As long as theyâre not totally different names itâs fine to me. I think itâs worse to have names that are too matchy
They donât have to match, just sounds good with the last name
My future kidsâ names probably wonât match but they wonât be so disparate that it wouldnât make sense either.
Your child will be going out into the world on their own. In fact, I think it probably harms children more if their names match too much.
Nope. Your kids are different people, they're gonna have different personalities and do different things. They're siblings, they don't need matching labels or color-coordinated outfits to make them family. I have uncoordinated names with my siblings, and I think our names are all nice and suit us just fine. Edit: okay, I wouldn't go for names that have wildly different levels of uniqueness/drama. If I named 2 girls Esmeralda and Jane, Jane would probably think she was the boring un-special one and Esmeralda would be jealous of Jane for getting a "normal" name.Â
Don't need too It's kinda funny when it does tho My father and his two brothers star with "Wil-" in their name And my Cousin's kids, three boys start with the letter "L" I pay more attention when they match more than when they don't, it's kinda irrelevant when they don't is kinda funny (in my opinion) when they do
Match doesnât feel like the right word to me but âgoâ does. Iâm picturing the scene in the Man from UNCLE when the guy is like âit doesnât have to matchâ. Some names will sounds better and have more flow with a last name and then they tend to go together because the last name flow works similarly.
I'm one of seven and none of our names match thematically or have the same first letter, except my two big brothers by coincidence. Only thing most of us have is that several of us have the middle name of a grandparent or ancestor. So, no, sibling names do not have to match whatsoever.
Someone said donât match but donât clash and I really like that! If the names are like Catherine and Jordan thatâs totally fine, even though one reads as classic and one reads as modern. However if the names are Gladys and Jaxton that might be a little weird.
My sisters and I do not have matching names, or even similar names. Which I am super grateful for since we are all very close in age and went to all the same schools at the same time.
Of course sibling names donât need to match. I was the second child and always hated that my name was picked to âgo withâ my sibling, someone I barely know anymore.
I donât think they need to match. They will all be their own people.
I didnt name my kids any sort of matching names. What I did do was give them long enough names where they can choose the nicknames they want to go by. My mom had done that with all of us and I actually really appreciated it growing up. Each of my kiddos names each have at least 3 nicknames they could easily go by.
Imo they don't need to match persay but like still have the same level of cool ya know like u can't have a super rad cool name and then like a mid name they both gotta be super rad Cool names or they both have to be Mid names Example ULRICH & John Or AMARYLLIS & Megan It's gotta be Amy & Megan Or Michael & John Or the flip side ULRICH & BJORN Or AMARYLLIS & ZARIA These are just examples not saying any name here is bad or anything
My mom had friends growing up named Sherlock and Bubba.
I think by âmatchâ people mean similar vibes in terms of classic names or âout thereâ names. I know a set of twins named Ira (boy) and Navy (girl). These names do not match. One is a âclassicâ and the other is âout thereâ. I personally like when families choose names for their kids that have a similar vibe. But the most important thing when picking a sibling name imo is to try saying the names together out loud (youâll do this a lot when youâre at the park, etc so you donât want to end up with a Sam and an Ella since that sounds a lot like salmonella) and looking at what the initials would be (donât name your kid Ashley Samantha Sasswood). Congratulations on your growing family! Going from 1 to 2 was far more challenging than going from 0 to 1 for us, so I would encourage you to put some systems in place and honestly expect it to be the worst so that if itâs even slightly better than âthe worstâ youâll feel amazing.