We All Want the Same Baby Name!
Categories: Baby Names
There's only one name in our family that is considered ideal -- by every single person of child-bearing age. It's a family name that has become quite popular and trendy without being annoyingly common. Is it weird to have multiple cousins sharing a name? Should it be first come, first served?
- Competing cousin
Ah, family! Isn't it wonderful to have those shared roots, shared memories and shared tastes? Of course, you have to be willing to share.
Most families today do follow the "first come, first served" rule. The first-born female gets to be Great-Grandma Emelia's namesake, and everybody else has to accept it with good grace. But it doesn't have to be that way. If everybody really, really wants the same name, it's possible for everybody to use it.
Why not? In societies with strict family naming traditions, shared names are routine. A father of five may find himself with five first-born grandsons, all named in his honor. In places like Greece, families lean heavily on nicknames to distinguish among an extended clan full of Petroses and Anastasias.
The real obstacle then, isn't propriety. It's the same thing that draws you all to the same name to begin with: Style. Your family, I presume, has plenty of ancestral names. This one leaps out because, in your words, it's "trendy without being annoyingly common." Would the name lose its attraction if three other cousins already shared it? If not, then your family can agree to open the name to all comers. But please do notice that key word, "agree." This is a deal that should be hammered out before any babies are born. No family name is worth starting a family feud.
Have you battled over a favorite name? Share your experiences!
And if you have a question to Ask the Name Lady, drop her a line.
- Competing cousin
Ah, family! Isn't it wonderful to have those shared roots, shared memories and shared tastes? Of course, you have to be willing to share.
Most families today do follow the "first come, first served" rule. The first-born female gets to be Great-Grandma Emelia's namesake, and everybody else has to accept it with good grace. But it doesn't have to be that way. If everybody really, really wants the same name, it's possible for everybody to use it.
Why not? In societies with strict family naming traditions, shared names are routine. A father of five may find himself with five first-born grandsons, all named in his honor. In places like Greece, families lean heavily on nicknames to distinguish among an extended clan full of Petroses and Anastasias.
The real obstacle then, isn't propriety. It's the same thing that draws you all to the same name to begin with: Style. Your family, I presume, has plenty of ancestral names. This one leaps out because, in your words, it's "trendy without being annoyingly common." Would the name lose its attraction if three other cousins already shared it? If not, then your family can agree to open the name to all comers. But please do notice that key word, "agree." This is a deal that should be hammered out before any babies are born. No family name is worth starting a family feud.
Have you battled over a favorite name? Share your experiences!
And if you have a question to Ask the Name Lady, drop her a line.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Michele 6-08-2009 @ 9:42PM
My aunts both liked the same name when they were both pregnant with boys at the same time. They agreed to used different spellings - one is Dillon and the other is Dylan. Since they're the same age - they grew up with that special name bond.
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AJ 6-09-2009 @ 3:17PM
Similar situation in my family. My cousins (sisters) both loved the name Samantha/Samuel so we have both a Samantha and a Samuel. Samantha goes by Sam and Samuel goes by his middle name, Walker. It all works out.
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ParamedicsGirl 9-21-2009 @ 10:52AM
My fiancee's family has used their mothers first name for the middle name of all the girls as a namesake, she died in '98.
Our daughter is the only one who doesnt' have it because her father said but that's his neices middle names..now that the shoe is on the other foot so to say, if we have another girl he wants to name her Brittany and I already have a family member named that, he like so? and I always quote him about his mothers name and he doesnt' say anything else LOL
Melanie 6-09-2009 @ 3:13PM
My husband shares a first name & middle initial with his cousin. They're 6 months apart and it has been a royal pain to keep their credit reports separate. They're in their 40's now, but because they lived together at 3 different addresses during their teens and 20's, I still have to disentangle our credit reports almost every year. Let's not talk about the time my husband was arrested on his cousin's warrant . . .
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