Yeah, I do agree it’s subjective. I also put it from the siblings’ perspective. They won’t always be seen in a group or a list of names, but they will have to deal with each other in the home.
I think names do have some related imagery to them, and it might be extreme to make them match too well (not like rhyming or syllables), like all classics, to avoid any limiting imagery, but if you keep them in a sort of related imagery - they are unlimited, whereas if they have too disparate names, they may feel as though your expectations are tied to their names. This is my brilliant scholar, this is my little tomboy, and this one loves to play with dolls and have tea parties. If they all have a name that makes you think ONE of those things, they can individuate themselves better, I think, than if they have names you picked out like you were prescribing them a personality.
Kids do tend to grow into their names and perhaps if you give them an eclectic assortment of names, they will grow up to fit their names anyway - or maybe they were defined by how people responded to them and their names. I think a lot of people are quite strict in what they consider “going” together, as I think there’s a lot more room there.
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I feel like I do have some different tastes in names - and the older I get, the fewer sibset problems I’m going to need to worry about. I do have some arbitrary sense of what names I prefer, the short, simple kind of name, like [name]Greta[/name], that if I were to at the last minute decide [name]Lucille[/name] was the perfect name, I think names like [name]Greta[/name] would have to go. [name]Helen[/name] might still be ok. [name]Sara[/name], definitely not. I think [name]Lucille[/name] is decidedly more exotic than [name]Sara[/name], just sounds too French or [name]Greta[/name] sounds too [name]German[/name], while [name]Helen[/name] is maybe going to be more like [name]Helene[/name] or [name]Elena[/name]. [name]Lucille[/name] and [name]Helen[/name] sound like they could be roommates in the nursing home. Friendly, down-to-earth, kind of old. [name]Eloise[/name] might be more ideal, and see that I am setting my choices down a little farther from the spare, kind of name for a little more elaborate. [name]Pearl[/name] would go because it sounds as elaborate in one syllable, very dreamy, pearly imagery, while [name]Miranda[/name] sounds like it might be from a different neighborhood in my skull, I think it’s in the same vague family of femininity. [name]Mireille[/name] would probably be “better,” except I don’t like it better. [name]Miranda[/name] and [name]Greta[/name] don’t sound ideal, but I think they could be ok. [name]Miranda[/name], [name]Greta[/name], [name]Eloise[/name], [name]Lucille[/name], [name]Pearl[/name], and [name]Helen[/name]. That’s six names that don’t all go well together, but some seem too “theme-y”, like [name]Greta[/name] and [name]Pearl[/name] both mean “pearl,” [name]Lucille[/name] and [name]Helene[/name] both mean “light.” [name]Eloise[/name] and [name]Helen[/name] sound too similar. Some of those ties might seem cute to some people, twins name [name]Eloise[/name] and [name]Helen[/name], or two daughters named “light.” I think either example is more cute than I need. I guess I have to name the 3rd one [name]Claire[/name]. That hurts my teeth, you know, but I imagine some of you would think it’s perfect.
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It’s like rearranging a room - you will know when you have that chair in the right place so you stop stubbing your toe, and you’ve figured out what curtains are best for the windows to make the room look how you want it - not how your neighbor has hers, or how you copied it out of a magazine.
I should maybe also say - we definitely have, as a group, a lot of ideas for combos, that are middle names - sometimes they “match” the first name, but quite often nobody has a lot to say about a completely different style for a middle name than the first name. They concentrate on “flow”, and especially how a first name sounds with a last name, and really if the middle is a different style of name, it’s almost encouraged - to offset an unusual first name, or to feminize a boyish first name on a girl. Sibsets are by contrast, what is my name, what are my sister’s and brother’s names, and do we sound like a family, or does one of us have a left out kind of name, seem like a “mistake” or ill-considered compared to the others, one that’s too plain among shiny, or too flamboyant in a family of very classic names, the odd name with the mainstream names, or vice versa, etc. So it’s mildly important, and extremely subjective.
