For the last few years my DH and I have been in love with the name [name_f]Eva[/name_f], as we knew a little girl with this name.
Last year my sister had a little girl and called her [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] (pronounced EE-fa or EE-feh), does that mean it should be off the list? We do see a lot of my sister and her family.
Your thoughts?
For a second (when I saw the title) I thought you were asking if [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] and [name_f]Eva[/name_f] were too similar to be sisters!!!
If [name_f]Eva[/name_f] is your number one name and you truly love it, I don’t think it’s off limits, but I think you should speak to your sister first, explain you’ve loved the name for years, so she doesn’t feel like you’re copying her choice.
If the two girls are likely to spend a lot of time together, and you envisage saying “[name_f]Aoife[/name_f] and [name_f]Eva[/name_f]” a lot, you may want to give it some extra thought. Could you use [name_f]Evie[/name_f] as a nickname, so when they are together they’re [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] and [name_f]Evie[/name_f]? Could you use a longer form with [name_f]Eva[/name_f] as a nickname? [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f], [name_f]Evelina[/name_f], [name_f]Evanna[/name_f], [name_f]Evanthe[/name_f] etc?
It’s not optimal but I think it’s OK. Talk with your sister first though, and maybe consider a nn like pp’s suggestion:)
Unless the name has real significance (honors someone, not just a name I liked), I’d look for something else because to me they are too similar.
If you wouldn’t care about the possible confusion when the kids got together, I think you should talk to your sister about it.
Thanks everyone,
Yes I did think the subject line might make people think that, got your attention though 
You have all listed exactly our concerns and views. We do love the name but I think it is too similar.
Time to look for some new names we love I think, or maybe another [name_f]Eve[/name_f] name, great suggestion.
I thought you were talking about sisters!!
But as your not (thankfully as that would be way to similar) your in fact talking about cousins I wouldn’t rule out [name_f]Eva[/name_f] especially as your in love with the name but I’d talk to your sister before going ahead. Also it depends how close you are to your sister. [name_f]My[/name_f] mother isn’t close to her sister at all so it wouldn’t matter if for example my mum had named her son [name_m]Mikael[/name_m] and her sister had a son called [name_u]Michael[/name_u] because they don’t really talk. But me and my sister are incredibly close therefore it would matter what I called my future child and if it was too close to my sister’s future child’s name because they’d most likely grow up together. So I’d think about that aspect of your relationship with your sister as well, is her [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] going to see your [name_f]Eva[/name_f] all the time? If so that’d be confusing. But if [name_f]Aoife[/name_f] was going to only see [name_f]Eva[/name_f] once in a blue moon it really wouldn’t matter. Still I would talk to your sister. Also maybe consider other choices with the nickname ‘[name_f]Eva[/name_f]’ like [name_f]Evangeline[/name_f]?
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helped