Let me start by saying I am not really upset, just a bit baffled.
A bit of background on our situation: We are expats that have been living in [name]Sweden[/name] for two years. We live very near to my host family from a study abroad exchange 14 years ago. The family and I are close- I call them mom and dad, they have come to visit me at various points on 2 continents, we now spend holidays and birthdays with them, we go to extended family reunions, etc. My Swedish sister commented this weekend how when someone asks how many siblings she has she doesn’t know how to answer because I should count but people just get confused. You get the point. They are family. I see the extended family about 3-5 times a year.
We have twin boys born in the summer of 2011 named [name]Oliver[/name] and [name]Luke[/name]. This weekend I found out the names of two babies born to two of my Swedish cousins this past summer (separate families). The first is named [name]Oliver[/name] and the second is named [name]Lukas[/name] (the Swedish version of [name]Luke[/name]). These are the first babies to be born in the family since my kids were born.
Now I am not really upset, but seriously? I know they aren’t the least popular names (especially here in [name]Sweden[/name]) but I find it a bit odd. I’ve tried to see it from their perspective but even then I still find it strange. Particularly that it was (essentially) [name]BOTH[/name] names.
OK, semi-rant over. [name]How[/name] would you feel?
It’s one of those situations where you probably shouldn’t care. You don’t have ownership of any name and if they liked your kids names - they have every right to use them.
But all that aside. It is CRAZY ANNOYING and I would be ranting non-stop!
I absolutely agree with you- they have every right to use those names. But I just find it strange. There are TONS of great names out there! Why go for those particular ones? I mainly wanted to post about it because it is so odd!
I think I would fin it pretty annoying. [name]Oliver[/name] and [name]Luke[/name] are fantastic names, so your family obviously has great taste! But they really should have chosen different names because it would be so confusing to have two Olivers and [name]Luke[/name] and [name]Lukas[/name] as so similar. Hmm, very odd, haha!
Okay so the host family that you stayed with all those years ago considers you family (meaning that set of parents and their children, who are now all adults) but the people with the children named [name]Oliver[/name] and [name]Lukas[/name] are their cousins, yes? So really, I see no reason for you to be upset. If my uncle and aunt had become attached to some foreign exchange student that stayed with them, all the more power to them, but I certainly wouldn’t view that person as family and wouldn’t take that person consideration into at all when naming my children. It’s very nice of your former host family to include you in so many family events since your real family is so far away, but you really have no right to get upset about what their extended family names their children.
And to answer your original question, no, I would not be upset. If my actual cousins had used the same names then I might be annoyed but the relatives of family friends? No, that wouldn’t bother me at all.
[name]How[/name] would you feel?