My 4th baby (3rd girl) is due in a couple of weeks and I’m fairly certain we’ve chosen a name now…however, I do like to have a ‘back up name’ just in case I see her face and feel like the name we have chosen doesn’t suit.
Our ‘back up’ choice would mean that she would share an initial with one of her sisters (different number of syllables and no repeated sounds…apart from the initial ‘m’). My first and third children have different initials so it’s not like I’m going for the trendy, and in my opinion tacky, Kardashian thing. I just have this feeling that the name would be less special because she’s sharing an initial. …I know that sounds insane…but for some reason in my family the opinion is that it’s a big no no…and somehow having a first initial of your own gives you a stronger identity of you own. I think it’s probably the reason that the back up name isn’t THE name, though I do love what we have chosen.
What are others opinions on this? Would you repeat an initial? Am I just being crazy?! Is it OK to have two initials the same in a sibset and the others different?
Totally okay! I’d repeat an initial even if there was only one other without. If I really loved a name, I wouldn’t let something like that stop me.
It wouldn’t bother me. One of my sisters and I share a first initial, while the others are unique, and it was never an issue. As long as they have different middle initials…
I’d really rather avoid repeated initials if possible, so I do understand where you’re coming from. With me, it’s more for reasons of convenience and perferctionism, rather than issues about individual identity, though I can understand your worry.
In reality though, I don’t think a child is going to feel less loved because he or she isn’t the only one in the family with a certain initial. I see people worrying about the opposite too sometimes: “[name_m]Will[/name_m] X feel left out if his brothers are both Y’s?” kind of thing. But really I think very few children would actually notice any pattern in the family’s initials, let alone draw conclusions about his or her worth or identity.
Ultimately, although the thought of repeating an initial would bug me a little in theory, I wouldn’t let it stop me from using a favourite name in practice. I might draw the line at a third matching initial so people wouldn’t assume I was going after a Kardashian-esque pattern, but two is just a coincidence [name_f]IMO[/name_f] and something most people won’t even register.
[name_m]Don[/name_m]'t worry about it. I share a first initial with my brother (in a family of 4 kids) and it’s never been an issue. We sometimes used initials growing up for games or whatever, and we just combined our first & middle initials. (So probably make sure the middle initial is unique!)
I totally understand where your coming from, and in many ways agree with you. DH and I have been going back and forth on this while compiling our list of names for future use and ultimately, if I really loved the name and it fit the baby perfectly, I would repeat the initial in a heartbeat.