I haven’t run it by my FI yet so I don’t know if it’s one we’d use but I’m really loving [name_m]Callen[/name_m] ([name_u]Cal[/name_u]-en) right now. It would a choice for a 2nd boy if we ever had two so it might not even ever get used. My issue is that my nephew’s name is [name_m]Collin[/name_m]. They would see eachother at every holiday and family gathering and probably 10-20 times other than that a year. Would this stop you from using it?
For brothers, definitely too similar but I think they’re different enough for cousins. What about [name_m]Callum[/name_m]? It’s got the ‘cal’ start and doesn’t end with an ‘n’ like [name_m]Callen[/name_m] and [name_m]Collin[/name_m].
I think you are fine. This is not a family member that he would be with day in and day out. I also love [name_m]Foster[/name_m] and [name_m]Callen[/name_m] as siblings. 
For me, it would absolutely be too close… but I ruled out [name_f]Nayeli[/name_f] because of a cousin [name_f]Natalie[/name_f], and [name_f]Odile[/name_f] because of a cousin [name_f]Ophelia[/name_f]. It all depends on your personal boundaries. I would be more concerned for the sake of the kids’ grandparents’ confusion than anything else… I’ve certainly heard grandparents mis-speaking names with more of a divide.
I second the above suggestion of [name_m]Callum[/name_m].
Haha this is really weird. My bestfriend and I were just talking about names a few days ago and I mentioned [name_m]Callen[/name_m] being Top 10 on my boys list. She has a little [name_m]Colin[/name_m] who is nearly a year old. When she caught on to how similar the names were, she practically insisted that [name_m]Callen[/name_m] be the name I choose. We think it would be cute. Close enough to be “aww” but not too close that it looks like we copied each other. And they’ll probably see each other every week. So no…being in a very similar situation…it definitely wouldn’t stop me from using the name!
It is way too close. I could see people frequently calling them by each others name.
Think when he goes to school and comes across more of each!
There is nothing wrong with others having the same or similar names.
[name_m]Callen[/name_m] or [name_m]Callum[/name_m] are good suggestions.
Well, at least its not the same name! There are three Johns in my immediate family, and when I was growing up my uncle was called [name_m]John[/name_m], my cousin was called J.R., and my brother was called [name_m]Vince[/name_m]. So maybe call one of the boys by a unique nickname or his nickname?
For brothers, definitely not, but I think for cousins it’s totally fine.
It could be worse–my husband and his cousin (who is just a few months younger than he is) have the same first and last name AND they went to the same elementary/middle school. I guess both moms liked the name [name_m]Matthew[/name_m] and neither wanted to give it up or forbid the other from using it, but I still think it’s really weird.