Would you use a name that someone in your extended family has? For me I love one or two of my cousins names, but on that side of the family I have 20+ cousins, do you think it would be okay for me to use one of their names in the future? Does it depend on how common/popular the name in question is?
I think it would depend how often I see them. My sister and I both like the same name - but since we live in different countries and rarely see or speak to each other I’m planning on using it if I have a girl.
I personally wouldn’t. I would want my child to be “unique” out of the family, not “[name]Emily[/name] number 2.” I have two Aunt [name]Debbie[/name]'s and we always call them “[name]Ron[/name]'s [name]Debbie[/name]” and “Aunt [name]Debbie[/name]” reasoning behind this I believe was because the first [name]Debbie[/name] married into my dad’s family and my Aunt [name]Debbie[/name] is my dad’s sister. In that case it was coincidence, but an idea of what might happen. I am even on the fence on picking a name that is close because my husband, [name]Brendan[/name], gets called [name]Brandon[/name] all the time around my dad’s family since I have a cousin [name]Brandon[/name]. You’d think they’d try to emphasize the difference, but nope, so we have to correct them all the time.
Anyway, this just my opinion and reasons as to why I wouldn’t, but it’s really a personal decision. There’s nothing wrong with doing it unless you know it’ll cause a family rift. I’d just make sure I’d ask the family member if it was okay before doing it. If anything, you could always use it as a middle name.
My dad’s cousin recently named her little girl [name]Amelia[/name]. I just pray to God that by the time I come to having kids and I name my own daughter [name]Amelia[/name], we’ll not have to see them very often! But like you said, I think popularity does come into it - and [name]Amelia[/name] is in the top 5 in the UK so it’s probably not a very big deal, and I’d class them as pretty extended family anyway.
So yeah, I think it depends on the name and just how close you are to them.
I think it depends how often you see each other or how close you are to them. My husband has dozens of cousins and relatives we rarely see or communicate with, so it would be no big deal to use one of their names.
My cousin is partly named in honour of my dad (and partly cos it was a name my auntie liked, lol). So at family gatherings we have Big [name]Richard[/name] and [name]Little[/name] [name]Richard[/name], even though both are the same size now and [name]Little[/name] [name]Richard[/name] is a doctor.
I think, like everyone else says, it depends on how often you see your family. I saw my cousin practically every weekend when I was little so for my mum and aunt to have to keep differentiating between [name]Richards[/name] might have been annoying at times but it doesn’t matter so much now that he lives in another city.
I am fond of variations of a number of names - my husband has a cousin [name]Katherine[/name], I think that, especially since she is always-[name]Katherine[/name] we could consider [name]Caitlin[/name] or similar. My brother is [name]Alexander[/name], I would consider [name]Alastair[/name].
I would probably avoid repeating the first names of any of our cousins or living relatives if possible. Our families are different: I know my cousin’s first and middle names and their kids’ first and middle names - I would avoid them. Out to about third cousins, where I stop worrying about it. My husband has no idea his 1st cousin’s middle names! So we’ll just avoid their first names and overlapped MNs are coincidence.
My name is [name]Stephanie[/name] and one of my step-dad’s nieces is also named [name]Stephanie[/name], she’s about 8 years older than I am. To this day we are still referred to as Big [name]Steph[/name] and [name]Little[/name] [name]Steph[/name].
I think it depends on how often you’re around that person, as previous posters have said. In my case, I wouldn’t. I come from a very large family that’s very connected- I’m talking a facebook group and family reunions every summer- so it woul be unusual for me to announce on facebook that ther’s another (insirt name here) in the family. However, if you don’t see those relatives often, then go for it.
- [name]Athena[/name]
It’s kind of a cop-out answer, but I think it depends on how much contact you have with them. For example, I interact on a fairly regular basis with a second cousin of mine, so I wouldn’t use his name in the future, even if we’re somewhat distantly related.
I think it would depend on how often I see them. I am in a very close-knit family and see a lot of my cousins very often and we all get along very well. I do have some extended family that love in Australia and there are some in Switzerland and I would maybe consider using some oftheir names but for the most part, I wouldn’t. We are a pretty big family and it has been known to use one cousins middle name as another cousins first which I can see as being acceptable but it would just make it too confusing if there was more than one ‘[name]Olivia[/name]’.
[name]Bree[/name]