I am having a real dilemma- I haven’t found a girls name that I love for baby number four, but I keep coming back to daughter number 2’s middle name. - [name_f]Elora[/name_f]
Would you ever use one of your kids middle names as a name for another baby? Is this a crazy faux pas?
Normally I would never consider it, but I’m feeling lost.
Help!
Personally, I would not use the same middle name twice. Although, because it’s just a middle name, it wouldn’t be horrible.
No, I would not. There are thousands and thousands of names out there. I know it is terribly difficult to find The One, it’s stressful. But I believe siblings deserve their own names. Their own identities.
This is what I was going to say. Maybe think back to the thought process and your feelings when you were naming your other daughter to help you zero in on names for this next child.
Personally, I wouldn’t use a child’s middle name as a first name for a future sibling. As another user pointed out, there’s soooooo many great names out there!
I could see why you keep coming back to your daughters middle - you already have a great connection to it because it’s part of your existing little girl’s name, whom you adore. But if you dig deep, chances are there’s another middle name out there for future baby that you could have the same feelings about, but it could be all her own for a future daughter. I suggest you look at other L heavy names, and iambic three syllable names like [name_f]Elora[/name_f].
I think these days, it would be a bit awkward. Back centuries ago I feel like it might have been fairly common though
If you like [name_f]Elora[/name_f], maybe [name_f]Leora/name_f, [name_f]Lenora[/name_f], [name_f]Flora[/name_f]?
I am going to be different and say yes I would but only if I was to reverse the name
I would not! I agree with all the points made by those who also said no. There are soooo many names out there! And you have so many berries here who can give wonderful suggestions if you’re feeling stuck!
If you like [name_f]Elora[/name_f], maybe you’d like:
[name_f]Aurora[/name_f]
[name_f]Alina[/name_f]
[name_f]Cora[/name_f]
[name_f]Elaina[/name_f]
[name_f]Elle[/name_f] or [name_f]Ella[/name_f]
[name_f]Elanna[/name_f]/[name_f]Alanna[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]
[name_f]Eletta[/name_f]
[name_f]Elidia[/name_f]
[name_f]Elisia[/name_f]
[name_f]Ellia[/name_f]
[name_f]Elsa[/name_f]
[name_f]Eliza[/name_f]
[name_f]Elsie[/name_f]
[name_f]Elula[/name_f]
[name_f]Elodie[/name_f]
[name_u]Evelyn[/name_u]
[name_f]Evelina[/name_f]
[name_f]Flora[/name_f]
[name_f]Helena[/name_f] (probably the hel-AY-nah pronunciation)
[name_f]Honora[/name_f] (uh-[name_f]NOR[/name_f]-uh)
[name_f]Leonora[/name_f]
[name_f]Rora[/name_f]
[name_f]Theodora[/name_f]
And some that sound less similar, but are in the same style as [name_f]Elora[/name_f]:
[name_f]Minette[/name_f]
[name_f]Viviane[/name_f]
[name_f]Roxanna[/name_f]
[name_f]Audra[/name_f]
[name_f]Lilla[/name_f] / [name_f]Lillia[/name_f]
I personally [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] [name_f]Aurora[/name_f], [name_f]Elodie[/name_f], [name_f]Helena[/name_f] & [name_f]Honora[/name_f] for similar sounding names. But [name_f]Audra[/name_f] is my current crush, so I have to vote that one!!
Have you considered [name_f]Eliora[/name_f]? It’s very similar, but just a little more unusual than [name_f]Elora[/name_f]. I don’t think it’s wrong to give a middle name of a sibling to a younger child. It must happen sometimes, because people never know how many kids they will have for sure, in advance, let alone which gender they will be. If you expect a child to be your only or last, he or she might end up with all of your favourite names. The main down side is that the older child cannot then use the name later in life - but mostly, that won’t occur, in any case.
Usually I would agree with most and say no; but I do agree also with brandiemwg that sisters with reversed names seems oddly endearing and perhaps gives them a legs up on a strong relationship. Though what would happen if they had a third sister later, she would undoubtedly feel left out, so ehh, idk.
My mother actually did this–my name is my older sister’s middle name. Growing up, I definitely didn’t like this fact. I wanted my name to be wholly mine and I resented having to “share” it, especially because my sister would try to get under my skin by reminding me that it was her name first, even though it was my “actual” name and only her middle.
Now that I’m an adult, I guess I don’t mind so much. Maybe it’s even nice to have that connection? And while there were definitely occasions when I tried to convince my mom to take my name “away” from my sister (shockingly, she never did…), I wouldn’t say it scarred me for life or anything. It was an annoyance, but it’s not like anyone outside of my immediate family was really aware of it anyway. So I’d say if you feel really strongly about it, or if it’s the only name you can agree on (which was my parents’ excuse), go for it. The kids will be all right. 
As this thread has shown, most people on Nameberry will tell you not to reuse a sibling’s name for a new baby, but I’m going to go against the grain and say that I see no problem with it. Clearly it’s a name you love and that feels special to you, and why wouldn’t that be a good thing to bestow on a child? Your girls may like the special connection it gives them, especially since [name_f]Elora[/name_f] is a pretty rare name and they may be the only ones they know with the name [name_f]Elora[/name_f], as opposed to something like [name_f]Sophia[/name_f] that they would share with potentially many other girls they know. For a long time it was quite common for one sibling’s middle to be another’s first, or vice versa- especially if named after family members, so the first daughter would have her mother’s name as her first name and subsequent daughters might have it as a middle. The tennis player [name_m]McEnroe[/name_m] brothers had the same names, reversed- [name_m]John[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_m]McEnroe[/name_m] and [name_m]Patrick[/name_m] [name_m]John[/name_m] [name_m]McEnroe[/name_m].
But here are some suggestions for names similar to [name_f]Elora[/name_f], if you’d rather not repeat it:
[name_f]Eliora[/name_f]
[name_f]Aurora[/name_f]
[name_u]Eloise[/name_u]
[name_f]Elnora[/name_f]
[name_f]Laura[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleanor[/name_f]
[name_f]Eleanora[/name_f]
I can sympathize. We named our unborn daughter [name_f]Cordelia[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f] (the last after my beloved [name_f]Nana[/name_f]) and then I thought we were going to adopt and I was considering [name_f]Marjorie[/name_f] as a potential first.
But my daughter is in [name_f]Heaven[/name_f] and the adopting did not work out . Your little girl already bears the name in question so in that case, the only way I would use it again would be to take it away from the existing daughter, change her middle to some other nice name, and give [name_f]Elora[/name_f] to your new child.
[name_u]Leslie[/name_u]
I think that if it’s a name that is very special to you, that honors family or a loved one, a beloved place it’s perfectly valid. For instance, my sister chose the name [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] (example) for my niece’s middle name, but was upset to find that in everyday life [name_f]Eliza[/name_f] wasn’t getting used or acknowledged, which to her was a bummer. So when she named her second child [name_f]Eliza[/name_f], she became much happier because she felt like she finally got to use that honor name she loved so much.
[name_f]Do[/name_f] it! It could be a nice way to link them together. I think it would be strange to use it in the middle spot twice, but if it’s a first name for one and a middle for another, that would be a sweet connection between sisters.
My DD has the middle name [name_f]Olivia[/name_f]. When I was pregnant with my son, I made a post on here asking if it’d be weird to make my son’s first name [name_m]Oliver[/name_m]. People said go for it! (I ended up going with a different name, but for totally different reasons).
My stepdad gave his oldest daughter and second son the same middle name (which also happens to be his) and his older daughter’s first name is a different spelling of my sister’s middle name (neither of which are the traditional spelling) and his second son had a 1/3 chance of sharing a first name with me had I been born a boy (though that name is a unisex name I ironically prefer on girls). It’s not completely that uncommon for siblings to share middle names, though I personally feel as if they should have their own names.
I’d type in your other daughter’s middle name into the search bar and see what names are suggested. Maybe you just need a name within the same vein of it.
I like a previous suggestion of [name_f]Aurora[/name_f].
Maybe you could use [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f], [name_f]Laurel[/name_f], or another similar-sounding name instead?
Interesting [name_u]Ryan[/name_u] Gosling and [name_f]Eva[/name_f] Mendes did it . Their older daughter is [name_f]Esmeralda[/name_f] [name_f]Amada[/name_f] and the younger daughter is [name_f]Amada[/name_f] [name_u]Lee[/name_u] .No reason it can’t be done especially if it has meaning for you.
Ideally I would try to find a name you love as much as you love the name [name_f]Elora[/name_f]. Here are some suggestions of names that are very similar or have the “OR” sound…
[name_f]Annora[/name_f], [name_f]Anora[/name_f] ([name_f]Elora[/name_f] and [name_f]Annora[/name_f] are practically identical sounding.)
[name_f]Adora[/name_f] (also almost identical sounding)
Adorna
[name_f]Leora[/name_f], [name_f]Liora[/name_f]
[name_f]Delora[/name_f]
[name_f]Eliora[/name_f], [name_f]Eleora[/name_f]
Elinora, [name_f]Eleanora[/name_f]
[name_f]Leanora[/name_f]
[name_f]Lenora[/name_f]
[name_f]Lora[/name_f]
[name_f]Lorelei[/name_f]
[name_f]Lorena[/name_f]
[name_f]Lorna[/name_f]
[name_f]Loretta[/name_f]
[name_f]Lori[/name_f], [name_f]Lorri[/name_f]
[name_f]Lorraine[/name_f]
[name_f]Eldora[/name_f]
[name_f]Dora[/name_f]
[name_f]Dorena[/name_f]
[name_f]Theodora[/name_f]
[name_f]Dorothy[/name_f]
[name_f]Dorothea[/name_f]
[name_f]Florence[/name_f]
[name_f]Flora[/name_f]
[name_f]Corinne[/name_f]
[name_f]Moira[/name_f]
[name_f]Norah[/name_f]
[name_f]Portia[/name_f]
Thank you for all the replies and opinions.
[name_f]Elora[/name_f] is after my aunt [name_f]Eleanor[/name_f] who passed away a month after my daughter was born. It is her first of two middle names.
We currently have three daughters, and I feel strongly that the baby due in [name_u]July[/name_u] will be a girl.
So it is a family name with importance to me, and they do have two middle names each. So it wouldn’t be switching their first and middles for two sisters.
Thank you for the suggestions - some are on our list, but none I am as fond of as elora. I have [name_f]Annora[/name_f] and adora and [name_f]Eliora[/name_f] on our list from number 2. 
I will suggest to my husband!
Thanks