What would you do?

General Name Discussion
1

I have a friend who is currently pregnant with baby #5. Her oldest four have very similar names; several of them almost rhyme. They are all 2 syllables and 6 letters:

Boy #1: S____ER
Boy #2: K____ER
Girl #1: K____EY
Girl #2: S____EE

Now she is trying to decide if she should continue the pattern or choose something completely new. I personally would never give my children such similar names, so I am tempted to say to choose something completely different. However, this will be their final baby, so they worry that this one will feel left out if the name doesn’t continue the pattern.

What would you do? Would you continue the pattern, even though all the names are so similar? Would it bother you if one of your children had a different initial than all the rest?

Would you ever name your kids similar to this? I think it’s important that sibling names go well together and have some type of connection, but this may be a little overboard for my taste.

2

I’d probably continue the pattern as it will seem odd if the fifth child has a really different name. Although, like you, I’m not a fan of matchy names to begin with.

3

If I found a name that I loved that matched the others, I would continue with the pattern just because there’s already 4 with similar names. I wouldn’t want to exclude the child from a name I loved because it matched and it was time to stop the pattern; additionally, I wouldn’t want to use a name I didn’t like to make them fit just because the other kids had similar names. I would say just find names they love without thinking about the pattern. It’s likely that they’ll love a similar name anyway, just because they seem to have a love of certain name characteristics (the syllables, length, S/K initial, and ending sounds).

I think it’s nice when siblings names match, but I don’t think it’s necessary for them to match. Siblings usually only live together for a short period of time and once they reach adulthood, most people won’t know the names of the siblings anyway.

4

That’s way matchy matchy to me. I would have to say stick with it by now though.