Sibling names that don't go together

[name_m]Hi[/name_m], just wondering if you’ve ever heard of any sibling names that don’t feel like they “go” together - e.g different styles or lengths - and if you think it matters?

I know a pair of identical twins with names about as different as can be, and I found it odd when they were babies, but now I appreciate it. Especially for identical twins, I think it’s kind of nice to have very different names to emphasize that they are two indviduals. But of course, I also like names tha go well together.

I don’t think it matters too much.

4 Likes

I know two siblings; sister has an uncommon, fantasy-like name and the brother has a very dated, uneappealing sounding name.
I don’t think it matters although I personally prefer cohesive sibsets.

1 Like

I think it could be frustrating if one kid will have a much harder time with their name than the other sibling(s) – for example, I know a family who have a daughter with a top 20 name and the other daughter’s name has never ranked in the top 1000. I’m sure the 2nd daughter gets questions, misspellings, confusion, etc. all the time, while her sister’s name is pretty easy and common. That could be frustrating for the 2nd daughter, but maybe the one with the top 20 name is jealous that her sister gets a cool, unusual name?

Other than situations where one sibling’s name might seem “better” and cause jealousy, I don’t think it’s that big a deal. That said, I do really want my future kids’ names to go together well, but I don’t think much of it when other people’s don’t.

2 Likes

I don’t think they need to go together but I like them to sound cohesive. Me and my sisters are E (me), A and A. I’m the oldest so the two As weren’t always planned, it just kinda happened. But even then our names have completely different vibes and sounds but they all sound nice together (all our names are 4 letters too, including our parents).

I prefer sibling names to go together, but if they don’t I don’t think it’s a big deal.

Mine & my sister’s names don’t really go together at all but it’s never caused a problem and I think that over the years people get used to hearing them together so they don’t notice as much. I knew triplets at school whose names were all different styles but when you heard them all together it didn’t sound odd because everyone was just used to them.

1 Like

I know a family where the older child has a gender-neutral (but leaning opposite gender) nature name and the younger child has a popular, traditional classic. Always wondered how that choice got made.

I taught sisters [name_u]Sawyer[/name_u] and [name_f]Amelie[/name_f]. I think of these are very different styles which I found interesting but it doesn’t really bother me.

The only thing that bothers me is when sibling names have an obvious theme and one doesn’t fit. I knew siblings names, [name_u]Shannon[/name_u], [name_u]Sean[/name_u], [name_m]Seamus[/name_m], and [name_f]Nora[/name_f] and that bothered me a little!

My father and his sister are named [name_m]Nikos[/name_m] and [name_u]Niki[/name_u]. It was never an issue for them.
I also know sisters named [name_f]Aglaia[/name_f] and [name_f]Aphrodite[/name_f]. One name is considered very dated while the other is the name of a goddess. In that case they feel kinda odd together imo.

1 Like

I personally prefer when sibling names go together I find it strange when you have a brother named [name_m]William[/name_m] but the sister is [name_f]Xanthe[/name_f] I just think [name_m]William[/name_m] & [name_f]Xanthe[/name_f] sound strange together whereas [name_m]William[/name_m] & [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] sound great together. I find it odd when stylistically names don’t work together. I also find it jarring when you have sibling sets like [name_m]Jacob[/name_m], [name_f]Juliet[/name_f], [name_u]June[/name_u] & [name_f]Flora[/name_f] for me [name_f]Flora[/name_f] sticks out. But ultimately it doesn’t matter if you love a name go for it!

I am trying to think of all sibsets I grew up with. Overall I think most parents had a theme they stuck with without it being super clear that it really became matchy (well except for two sisters who were named after a famous artist and a famous author’s last names). Basically, they found a country (language) for inspiration and stayed there. Although there was a sibset of three sisters where two sisters had relatively popular 90s names, but one sister had a name I’ve never heard again since. I think perhaps they were the most mismatched sibset purely based on names, but the girls themselves may as well have been triplets since they looked so much alike so I never really paid attention to it.

I second what @EagleEyes says, I grew up with two brothers so I never had a reason to be jealous of their names but when I was young I remember thinking of some sibsets that one seemed luckier than the other, or why one had a boring name and the other such an exciting one.

1 Like

Hmmm… my little cousins have names slightly varying in style. One has a “trendy” name while the other has a more classic name. I don’t think it really affects much, but it does bother me a bit when their full names are said aloud.

I know a family with four children – the older two have more modern names, the younger two have vintage names. They do feel a bit disjointed, but it’s not really a big deal. I think it stands out to me as someone who cares so much about names, but probably not to most other people who know them. :slight_smile:

I don’t think it’s a big deal if they don’t match perfectly, although I will say almost every family I know has a pretty cohesive style, except my own immediate family lol. [name_f]My[/name_f] brother’s name is extremely unusual to the point of being virtually unique, difficult to spell and pronounce, and usually assumed on-paper to be a woman’s name. He was (and is!) always jealous of my common, classic name. I think there are bigger differences there than just stylistic, though. If we’d been [name_f]Julia[/name_f] and [name_u]Dylan[/name_u] or something where they weren’t really the same style but one wasn’t extremely difficult to wear, it wouldn’t have been as big an issue as [name_f]Julia[/name_f] and [Redacted]. Likewise, if I’d had a really unusual name that was a “similar style” to his, we might have both been ticked off!

1 Like

I don’t think it’s a big deal, generally. I’ve known plenty of people over the years whose names have a different style from those of their siblings. However, I do feel if the names have a very different style (say, sisters called [name_f]Sharon[/name_f] and [name_f]Aurora[/name_f]), one might feel jealous of the other having a more fashionable name. Also, if a boy has a unisex name like [name_u]Kelly[/name_u] and his brother has a clearly masculine name, that could also possibly cause jealousy.

I know several siblings that have (in my [name_f]Mindy[/name_f] mismatched names.

It matters to my OCD, but in the scheme of things, I know it’s really not a big deal.

I knew an @rthur and Sunsh1ne! Quite different but in the end it didn’t really matter

1 Like

I know twin girls named [name_m]Arch[/name_m]€r and Rh1annon which I find jarring and to be such opposite styles so I don’t care for them together. It feels like they were hoping for one of each and maybe these are to be their last babies. IMO, they don’t necessarily have to be the same style but they should be cohesive and have something in common.

I’ve got to be honest it does bother me :joy: but I’ve mastered the smile and nod politely reaction!

Worst combo I’ve come across is Margaret and River… I mean come on. They’re not even close.

And then equally annoying is when they’re too close, like Ella and Elsa (true story) or Nala and Nama (again, true story)…

It is important to me that my children’s names “go” together, it does usually put me off a name if I don’t think it fits.

2 Likes

I have three siblings–two of us have very unusual names, and two of us have very common names. I really disliked having an unusual name growing up and was quite jealous of my siblings with more well-known names. That being said, I’m so used to hearing our names together that they don’t sound strange to me in spite of the stylistic discrepancy, and I could say the same for plenty of other sibling sets I know. Overall, I’d say I prefer for sibling names to be relatively similar in terms of style and popularity (or at least one or the other)–partially to avoid possible resentment between siblings, but mostly just because it’s my personal preference. Ultimately, when I hear the names of a real set of siblings, they quickly sound natural together almost regardless of the differences.