Would you ever name your children variants of the same name?

General Name Discussion
1

I have always loved the name [name]Catherine[/name]/[name]Katherine[/name]. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I was seriously considering naming her [name]Catherine[/name] [name]Elise[/name], but was concerned about its popularity. While it’s not terribly popular now, it’s extremely popular for my generation and my husband and I knew several Catherines/Katherines. On top of that, when my husband and I were in our early 20’s and still dating, we broke up for a while and he dated a girl named [name]Catherine[/name]. While I don’t care the least bit, I still felt maybe I shouldn’t name my kid that. We ended up nixing it and going with another huge favorite of mine - [name]Nora[/name] [name]Cathleen[/name].

Two years later, we’re getting the “itch” for another, but still plan to wait another year or so. If we have another girl, I have several names I’d consider and a pretty solid top 3, but I can’t seem to shake thinking about [name]Katherine[/name] as a first name.

Would it be too much if I had a [name]Nora[/name] [name]Cathleen[/name] and [name]Katherine[/name] [name]Elise[/name]/[name]Katherine[/name] [name]Johanna[/name]? We actually call my daughter “[name]Nora[/name] [name]Cate[/name]” sometimes because I love the name [name]Cate[/name]/[name]Kate[/name] so much and still wanted to use it, but obviously we wouldn’t continue to call her [name]Nora[/name] [name]Cate[/name] if we used [name]Katherine[/name] for another daughter.

Is this all too bizarre? What’s your take on this?

2

I actually think it would be weirder to change what you call your older daughter than it would be to have a [name]Nora[/name] [name]Cate[/name] and a [name]Catie[/name] [name]Elise[/name] or [name]Catie[/name] [name]Jo[/name].

3

This reminded me of a blog post I read awhile back. . . Ooooops! Baby Name Mistakes | Nameberry

I don’t think its that bad at all. If you love the name, use it.

4

No, not if it’s only a middle name. I think it’s fine. I absolutely love [name]Nora[/name] [name]Catherine[/name], by the way. It’s adorable. :slight_smile:

5

I would, actually - in the case of [name]Evan[/name] and [name]Jack[/name]. I mentioned wanting to use both and got scolded for even considering using “basically the same name” … ok, right.

I see nothing wrong with your scenario. Of course I would agree dropping [name]Nora[/name] [name]Cate[/name] is a must. [name]How[/name] old is [name]Nora[/name]? If she’s used to “[name]Nora[/name] [name]Cate[/name]” it might be hard for her to go from hearing “[name]Nora[/name] [name]Cate[/name]!” to “[name]Nora[/name]! [name]Cate[/name]!” around the house when you call them, for instance. [name]Even[/name] if you’re waiting for awhile, I’d still drop the [name]Nora[/name] [name]Cate[/name] nickname as soon as possible, if [name]Katherine[/name] is a name in the future.

6

I know someone who used the middle name of her first as the first name for her second. BTW, the name is [name]Grace[/name].

7

If you use [name]Katherine[/name], I don’t think it’s a big deal. If you do call a second daughter [name]Katherine[/name] (and intend to nickname her [name]Kate[/name]), I do think you should drop the [name]Cate[/name] nickname for your oldest. I think that [name]Nora[/name] [name]Cathleen[/name] and [name]Katherine[/name] [name]Elise[/name] or [name]Katherine[/name] [name]Johanna[/name] would be so lovely together.