Themes and repeating letters - yay or nay?

My parents named me and my sisters [name_f]Rachel[/name_f], [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f] and [name_f]Ruth[/name_f]. Yes, we all love our names individually and I can’t imagine being called anything but [name_f]Ruth[/name_f] and my sisters feel the same. However, we hate the three R names and the fact that they all have a clear biblical theme (not dissing religion or the bible).

Because of this me and my sisters vowed that we would never use a repeating letter and if we were going to use a theme do it in a not so obvious way.

My sisters both already have children and have been incredibly careful with the choosing of the names ([name_f]Rebecca[/name_f]'s children are called [name_f]Sadie[/name_f] and [name_f]Hope[/name_f] and [name_f]Rachel[/name_f]'s are called [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], [name_m]Benjamin[/name_m] and [name_f]Leah[/name_f]) and I am being super careful with the names we are considering, thinking of future children and what their possible names could be with names that we like now.

Is anybody else like this? Or am I just a bit crazy? :smiley:

[name_m]Just[/name_m] to clarify, not dissing parents who have named the children repeating letters or have themes but I was simply wondering what other people’s thoughts are on this subject.

My thoughts are exactly the same as yours on this. DH’s family all have the same letter name, including mom, dad, and pets. It’s too cutesy for my taste. Naming human beings is more serious than that. And do not get me started talking about matching outfits in family portraits. LOL

Also completely same camp as you on Bible names. I grew up around LOTS of people who were positively dead set on ALL their kids’ names being Bible names. It was almost a “look how spiritual we are” badge. I know most people are not actually thinking that way, but childhood associations are hard to drop! Plus, there just aren’t alot of Bible names that I care for the sound of anyway :slight_smile:

I’m not so rigidly firm on the stance as you are, but then again, my siblings and I don’t really have matchy-matchy names ([name_u]Ashley[/name_u], [name_m]John[/name_m], [name_f]Rebecca[/name_f], and [name_f]Natalie[/name_f]). [name_u]Tallie[/name_u]'s and mine end with the same sound, but not all are Biblical, and not all get nicknames, and none start with the same letter… That being said, before my little sister came along, I felt really left out because everyone in my family had a Bible name but me–my dad is also [name_m]John[/name_m], and my mom’s name is in the Bible, albeit with different origins and a different spelling ([name_f]Keren[/name_f] instead of [name_f]Karen[/name_f]). So I felt sort of left out because of that, and all of my siblings have nicknames ([name_m]Johnny[/name_m], [name_f]Becca[/name_f], and [name_u]Tallie[/name_u]), so I sort of feel left out in that regard, as well (I occasionally get called [name_u]Ash[/name_u], but that’s generally by people who haven’t grown up knowing my family. I feel like people who have grown up as family friends, or went to school with me since I was little, etc., all call me just [name_u]Ashley[/name_u], because that’s what my family calls me), which I don’t like. I feel like if I’m going to break a mold somewhere, I have to break it for more than one child, and I’m not so specific about not using all the same letters (I mean, I’d be fine with having an [name_f]Isabelle[/name_f], an [name_f]Arianne[/name_f], a [name_m]Caleb[/name_m], an [name_u]Everett[/name_u], an [name_f]Olivia[/name_f], a [name_f]Violet[/name_f], a [name_m]Grant[/name_m], and a [name_m]Casper[/name_m] (ha! maybe not so many kids, but I wouldn’t mind repeating a letter here or there, which was my point, lol.).).

I’m sure as I go along, and actually name children, though, that I’ll start to develop many more rules about naming children. :slight_smile:

I’m OK with it. My husband’s family all has names that start with K or a hard C and they have never had a problem with it. It’s not my favourite - I think if you want to get super matchy do it with middle names so your kids get to feel like individuals and not like part of a set.

I think it’s okay as long as they’re distinct. My top favorite girl names are [name_f]Audrey[/name_f] and [name_f]Alice[/name_f], and since they make very different sounds at the beginning I wouldn’t hesitate to use them together.

My sisters & I all started with the same letter. It can be a problem when a letter comes addressed to Miss G [name_m]Smith[/name_m]…Who is it meant for? We would have preferred not to have matching initials. I can’t see why you should limit your name choice in this way.

I agree and disagree.

I’m naming my last baby now, and all of a sudden every great name that has ever been uttered seems to start with I. But we used that letter for our first kid. >.> I almost wish we’d done so with our second too, so that naming this baby would be easier haha. A lot of the names we like sound quite similar, and it is very hard for us to agree on anything… I do worry that our choice might end up being either really matchy because of that, or so vastly different that the last kid will be all “WTF?”. It’s a fine line to walk.

So far both my kids, not intentionally, have [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] names. Which I’m fairly certain nobody notices because yay minority religion :smiley: But I’d really like to do the same for our last kid too. If we found a name we both loved that wasn’t we’d still use it, hands down, because agreeing with the husband is just an amazing rare thing, but ideally ne will have a name shared with a (positive) deity.

For us, it’s not a badge of “look how religious we are” (because no one in our lives is actually Wiccan) but they are uncommon names full of history and meaning, and I think it’s nice that the kids have a kind of role-model to look up to within their names. A tie to something beyond themselves. I know the chances that any of the kids will grow up to share my faith is ridiculously slim, so it’s not about that either. But I like to think that even though they won’t be Wiccan, they’ll look back at the festivals and rituals of their childhood with warmth and happiness, and that their names will tie into that.

But thank you for this thread, I think I needed to read your opinion on it too!

I can’t get the idea out of my head that all of our names should be isograms. They are so far and I think I would look for one again if we have another child. But I hardly think anyone will notice.

Well, lol. My name is [name_f]Eryn[/name_f] ([name_f]Erin[/name_f]) and I have sisters called J@yde ([name_f]Jade[/name_f]) and [name_f]Kyr[/name_f]@h ([name_f]Keira[/name_f]). [name_f]Do[/name_f] you see the trend? The ‘y’ trend. We aren’t that bothered by it though but none of us are continuing the theme. I think this theme is kind of subtle when our names are spoken, but it’s clear as day when it’s written down. I would never follow a trend but I guess it can be cute if it’s not too in your face ([name_f]Alyssa[/name_f], [name_f]Alison[/name_f] and [name_f]Aleah[/name_f] for example).

Repeating letters doesn’t trouble me until either a) the names start to sound too similar to each other; b) spelling gets compromised to fit the pattern ([name_f]Jinger[/name_f] Duggar is the best/worst example of this that I can think of); or c) (and this one is invisible to most people outside of your family) you’d really rather use a name that falls outside the pattern but you feel you’ve committed to the pattern and thus, you’ll have to settle for something else.

I generally don’t like themes as a concept (though I’m sure there are some very well-named sibsets that have been named according to themes) - to me, they feel like they’re there to appease or amuse the parents more than they are to actually give the children good names. For example, a person could get a lot of mileage out of a Beatles-themed sibset, but the only reason to do that (unless they just happen to be the names you love the most and it’s a full coincidence) is presumably to tell the world that you are Beatles fans, and that is a totally different mission than people should be on while naming their children, in my humble opinion.

Also: either of these is less prominent the fewer children you have. Two daughters named [name_f]Lily[/name_f] and [name_f]Louisa[/name_f] feel a lot less repetitive than five children named [name_f]Lily[/name_f], [name_f]Louisa[/name_f], [name_m]Leo[/name_m], [name_f]Lyra[/name_f] and [name_u]Logan[/name_u].