What makes a sibset? 💕

General Name Discussion
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What makes a sibset a “perfect match”. What makes a sibset “mismatched”. What would you avoid? Is there a certain pattern you’d like to follow?

This can be in general or your personal taste. Please get as name nerdy as you like! :wink:

Thanks! -bee :honeybee:

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For me, it comes down to a vague sense of vibe and style, alongside a consideration of popularity levels. I say vague because they don’t need to be perfectly in line, they just need to have something about them that makes them click. For example, [name_f]Sarai[/name_f] and [name_f]Una[/name_f] are two different styles, but for me they both have a quality of strength, a hint of the mystical, and a ‘familiar-but-distinctive’ vibe. In regards to popularity, I wouldn’t want one name to be, you know, top 50, and the other to be unranked? So, while [name_u]Tristan[/name_u] is obviously more popular than [name_m]Sholto[/name_m], it’s not like, [name_m]Sholto[/name_m] and [name_m]Oscar[/name_m], which have a similar feel, but the popularity disparity would grate on me.

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I get extremely particular about hypothetical sibsets to the point where I kind of annoy myself :sweat_smile:
-No matching intials
-No repeated end letter unless all in the set have the same
-If two have the same amount of letters then it bugs me if the rest don’t match
-Generally similar popularity
-Generally similar style or vibes
-Similar amount of nickname potential
-It can be fun to have a subtle theme like double letters or matchy middles/nicknames but definitely not required
-Its ok to break from matchiness if the odd one out is a different gender (ex: with [name_f]Caroline[/name_f], [name_f]Marianne[/name_f], and [name_u]William[/name_u] its ok that [name_u]William[/name_u] doesn’t have 8 letters and end in a silent E like the girls but if there was another boy then the two boys would need to have some sort of comparable matchiness, probably just length would be enough)
-If the set is supposed to be twins/triplets/etc. I get extra pedantic about being the exact right amount of subtly matchy but for non-multiple sets I’m more likely to aim for artfully mismatched.

In general the goal is either cohesive style but absolutely nothing actually matches or everything has to match but in a relatively subtle way.

For real life sets and when naming my own future children I’m a bit less particular because realistically you’re naming each child as an induvidual years apart from each other with extra challenges like your SO’s opinions, so its much more important, and probably a bit easier on yourself, to just land on a great name for this kid rather than a name that perfectly matches their older siblings. In those situation I still care about avoiding things like matching intials but a lot less about “oops, the first two have 8 letters so number three needs to as well.”

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For me it’s just names I love. They don’t have to match in style or popularity, but it’s a bonus if they do. As long as they sound good together (to my ear) then I am happy.
I’ve always been told I’m a very laid back person though, so perhaps this attitude translates to names too.

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I am not a laid back person, but I agree.
I enjoy matching meanings, origins or initials when making combos for fun. In real life I prefer to name each child independently, even if it’s only so I don’t narrow down my options even further. I vastly prefer mismatched over overmatched.

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