Anonymous wrote:My sister "claimed" by grandmother's name a few years ago. She still has no children and I have two but since I have two boys and the claimed name is Geraldine, it has caused no issues so far

LOL My mom wanted to name me Nancy but my cousin was born a month earlier and my aunt "stole" that name. Thank goodness, because I hate the name Nancy!

Anonymous wrote:I checked with my older brother to see if there were any names off limits for my kids. I think he had one or two that he really loved. He and his wife struggled with fertility and never ended up having kids. But if I had named my kids one of “his” names, I know it would’ve been a painful reminder.

Funny thing is, my cousin ended up choosing the name I had chosen for my daughter. (We were pregnant at the same time.) It was a total coincidence because I hadn’t shared it, and not a common or family name. We rallied and picked a different one, but dang it I’m still a bit sad about that name haha.

This happened to me as well. The cousin doesn't live near us and we've only seen them twice since the kids were born but it still felt weird to use the same name, which did not have a family connection at all. We ended up using that name as the middle name.

I checked with my older brother to see if there were any names off limits for my kids. I think he had one or two that he really loved. He and his wife struggled with fertility and never ended up having kids. But if I had named my kids one of “his” names, I know it would’ve been a painful reminder.

Funny thing is, my cousin ended up choosing the name I had chosen for my daughter. (We were pregnant at the same time.) It was a total coincidence because I hadn’t shared it, and not a common or family name. We rallied and picked a different one, but dang it I’m still a bit sad about that name haha.

You all know that cousins can have the same names, right? There's nothing wrong with both you and your sister naming your children James.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My cousin and I both have the same middle name. We always thought it was cool!

On my mom's side of the family, there is tons of overlap -- several of my cousins have the same middle names (my grandmother's, or great-grandmother's), and no one is bothered by this. It's not like most people even use their middle names in daily life.

This is so true. We overthink middle names to death when we are naming our child but I honestly had to think for a second what DS10's middle name even was the other day!

I think your sister is crazy. I don't care if someone is trying or not. I don't understand why people excuse poor (and sometimes crazy) behavior just because someone isn't getting pregnant when or as quickly as they'd prefer. "Trying" or any of the rest isn't carte blanche to behave badly.

Names are reused all of the time. As long as nothing is done with malice, who cares. What a lovely tribute to your family members. I bet they are/would be thrilled to be honored by all of you naming your children after them.

Anonymous wrote:My cousin and I both have the same middle name. We always thought it was cool!

On my mom's side of the family, there is tons of overlap -- several of my cousins have the same middle names (my grandmother's, or great-grandmother's), and no one is bothered by this. It's not like most people even use their middle names in daily life.

My cousin and I both have the same middle name. We always thought it was cool!

My sister is married and going through IVF. Both of us absolutely loved two female names since we were little. I used one of the names for my eldest daughter. When I had my second I named her something else. Pregnant with my third girl now and will also name her something else. So yes I’m saving that name for my sister whether or not she ends up having a baby girl.

So my sister and sister-in-law and I are close, so we did this. We all like similar style of names so we each said if you felt really strongly about a name you could reserve it. We each only had one or two. It worked out. I had a name I had always wanted to use and I am so glad I got to use it for my daughter. I would have been so disappointed if one of them had used it. Our family is close, lives in the same town and gets together often. Having cousins with the same name would be weird. It wasnt hard to avoid a name or two when naming our kids.

My husbands family did not do this. His sister used a name he really really wanted for our child. We were pregnant at the time, so only missed the opportunity by a couple months. He was so disappointed. So I think it is worth having a conversation among siblings. The other person can always say no.

Anonymous wrote:Your sister is probably overreacting this way because she’s trying to have kids. She’s probably lashing out from fear that she won’t be able to have them. Do what you want about the name, but try to be sympathetic. It’s got to be hard to see your sister have kids if you are having trouble, and naming her kid the name you are hoping to use for yours must feel like salt on the wound. This is not your fault; I am just urging you to be empathetic.

+1

Name your kids what you want. It’s common for cousins to have the same name, and you can use different nicknames. Unbeknownst to me, I gave my son the same first and middle names of one of my first cousins (I didn’t know his middle name) but my son goes by the middle name and my cousin goes by a nickname and it is not at issue.

Anonymous wrote:My sister "claimed" by grandmother's name a few years ago. She still has no children and I have two but since I have two boys and the claimed name is Geraldine, it has caused no issues so far

LMAO

Anonymous wrote:What's your opinion on this when choosing a name for your kid do you have to consider your siblings?

Example my sister gave her son our father's name as amiddle name. I'm currently pregnant and am using his middle name as my son's middle name and considering our grandfather's name as a first name. My sister who doesn't have kids yet but has been trying accused us of taking all the family names and acting like she's not going to be a mom.

Is this a thing? Do people really plan names to save some for siblings.

Your empathy for your sister is really underwhelming. Name your kid what you want but to a casual observer it seems like you're performing the importance of family with the names more than actually showing you find family important by being irritated by your sister's obvious struggles.

My sister "claimed" by grandmother's name a few years ago. She still has no children and I have two but since I have two boys and the claimed name is Geraldine, it has caused no issues so far