Would you name your child the same name as a friend's child?

[Anonymous]

I'm an older FTM. Most of my friends already have kids and most of their kids' names are traditional (think Jonathan, Michael etc). I want to name my child a traditional name too but of course there is a limited universe. Would you be upset if one of your good friends named their child the same name as one of your (several) children? Should it matter?

[Anonymous]

I think I'd be flattered.

[Anonymous]

No, I wouldn't be upset if a friend named their child the same name as my child. Whether or not it "should matter", I don't know. Judging from many of the threads on this forum, people want their kids' names to be unique and rare, so there might be some people who take offense to someone using "their" name.

[Anonymous]

My kid has a name that was top 10 when he was born, and is still very common. If I have another kid they would likely be either Sophie or Joseph (i.e. not exactly "unique" names) I think it would be kind of silly to name my child something that common and then to be upset because someone else uses it too. If I had named my kid something unexpected or super uncommon that would be different.

[Anonymous]

If we are talking about traditional names like John, William, Alexander, etc i think it's fine to use.

[Anonymous]

You might want to give a heads up before the general birth announcement goes out but surely no one "owns" Micheal, Brian, etc. No one owns any name but I think even a crazy would be less likely to object when they know their child's name is a traditional one.

[Anonymous]

Flattered.

[Anonymous]

I think it's fine! I grew up with the same name as my parents neighbor's daughter. They became close friends and so did she and I and no one ever batted an eye that we were both named Nicole.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If we are talking about traditional names like John, William, Alexander, etc i think it's fine to use.

+1

I think if the name were something like Saffron Tulip you might want to hold back. Common name? Go for it.

[Anonymous]

If the name is relatively common (and presumably the two children won't be super-close in age) I think it's fine. ... but as suggested before you might want to let your friend know you have chosen the name ahead of the general announcement, or at least make a personal comment about how much you [both] love the name.

Acquaintances whose daughter is "best friends" with my children gave their new baby my daughter's very unusual name as a middle name. They didn't say anything to us about it, just sent us the standard birth announcement. That did feel rather weird and uncomfortable to me since the name is extremely uncommon - fewer than 20 babies in the US are given this name each year.

While I didn't love the way they [didn't] handle it, I understand that the name is not ours and their choice of it was a tribute to our children's friendship. It just would have been much more comfortable if when sending out the email they had at least put in a personal sentence about how much they love our daughter and her name!

Right now we are on the opposite side of the conundrum: we have chosen the name Beatrix for our new baby, but we don't announce our children's names before they are born. I am wondering what to say to semi-close friends whom we have known for 20 years but only see half a dozen times a year whose daughter is named Beatrice [Italian]. Though our choice of the name is not related to her at all it does seem appropriate to acknowledge the close link between the names.

[Anonymous]

Right now we are on the opposite side of the conundrum: we have chosen the name Beatrix for our new baby, but we don't announce our children's names before they are born. I am wondering what to say to semi-close friends whom we have known for 20 years but only see half a dozen times a year whose daughter is named Beatrice [Italian]. Though our choice of the name is not related to her at all it does seem appropriate to acknowledge the close link between the names.

Our Beatrix is due in October. Let you're friend know we're using it, too

We don't share names either, but in this case, you might want to float it by in a group possibilities. For example, find a time to casually bring up names and rattle off a few that you're "considering"... put Beatrix in there. If you feel like you owe them a heads up or explanation, there it is.

OP. similar advice, although I think it's totally fine, especially if the kids are completely different ages.

[Anonymous]

I posted this before my son was born(search something like choosing the same name as a friend ) and virtually everyone said it was fine. We did do it but this is a non local friend we barely see anymore.

That said as long as the name isn't crazily uncommon, no big deal.

[Anonymous]

Would you feel the same if its a sister? Our maiden name is something that can be used as a first name and both my sister and I want to use it.

[Anonymous]

I don't think it's a big deal, but if they are close friends, I'd give them a heads up.

[Anonymous]

I probably wouldn't just because in my mind I would associate the name with my friend's child. As to the question about using the same name as your sister, I think middle name might be ok but definitely not for the first name. You could either discuss it and come to an agreement or, as unfair as it is, I think the first to have a baby that gender gets to use it.