Anonymous wrote:I see no difference if OPs sons was 2 or 12. To pick the EXACT SAME NAME is very weird.

OP- agree something is very strange with what they did.

It makes a huge difference. First of all, no one is likely to confuse an infant with a tween. And second of all, by the time you've been a parent for more than a decade, you should appreciate how pointless and petty this kind of stuff really is.

I see no difference if OPs sons was 2 or 12. To pick the EXACT SAME NAME is very weird.

OP- agree something is very strange with what they did.

They may have liked this name their entire life. Everything is not about you!

Your son is 12yo and you still get competitive and territorial about baby names? Get some help, please.

Anonymous wrote:My cousin announced her soon to be born son's name on Facebook today, and it's the same first AND same middle as my son's. We live in the same area, we see each other at family events..maybe I shouldn't be so miffed about this but I find it incredibly odd. What would you think about this?

I am not sure why this is a problem. Our family has had same names like that for generations. Pick a different battle.

We wanted a traditional name like Catherine. But we had a Catherine my last name, his last name, his cousins last name, our parents maiden name last name, our best friends last name .. so we choose another name... and put Catherin in the middle. Just couldn't let it go.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very odd... unless you are Scottish in which case we only use the same four names for everyone in a family.

Or Irish ... same. Doing a genealogy is hysterical. I have lots of cousins and we all use many of the same names - all "family" names of course, how could they not be?

... and the name should be chosen from the approved list of saints, for heaven's sake! Extra points for Mary, Joseph, John, Anne, and, of course, Patrick.

If my brother ever has a DS, he'll use the name of my DS. It wasn't until after we named DS that I learned my brother also wanted to use the name. And, since my kids use a hyphenated last name (mylastname+DHlastname), there will be a lot of similarities. I don't care. It's a great name.

Anonymous wrote:Very odd... unless you are Scottish in which case we only use the same four names for everyone in a family.

Or Irish ... same. Doing a genealogy is hysterical. I have lots of cousins and we all use many of the same names - all "family" names of course, how could they not be?

Maybe she has a nickname she wants to use? I have cousins Libby and Elizabeth. Not a big deal.

This happened to me also. I have twins: brother choose the same name for his DD, and cousin choose same name for her 4th. They were unusual names also. Did not make for great family relations since mine were already 6 months old. Really, that unusual name -- you had to use it? (not even close to the top 200) Whatever. The world needs two cousins named blanca?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd be irritated. Out of all the names in the world, the cousin has to pick the exact same name??

+1

This is how I feel. Someone did this to me. It was a friend of my mother's. I don't like the people, because they have been blatantly rude to me in the past. Unprovoked. Then they go and take an unusual name I painstakingly picked out? They can shove it.

I'm with you, OP. But if you say something, you are the "bad guy". You know how that goes. Wait until their turn comes. And hope you are there for it

I see why they are rude to you, grow the heck up. Painstakingly picked out -- do you think your kid was the first to have that name? Bye, Felecia!!

Anonymous wrote:"This is my cousin, Darrell, and this is my other cousin, Darrell"

Best laugh of the day!

Anonymous wrote:OP here. First name is not a family name, middle name is - but on my husband's side. My son is 12. I know that's quite a difference in age but I still think this whole thing is weird.

because of the age difference I don't think it's weird, it's much stranger if they're closer in age. My SIL named her son the same first name as my sister's kid, so we have a pair of rist cousins 5 years apart with the same name who see each other regularly. If it becomes a problem, whoever had the second kid with that name will just need to accept that there may be a nickname that others will use with or without their consent.

Is it the kind of name that can be shortened, like both kids are Thomas James and new baby can be TJ or Jamie, or Tommy or something? I think it could add confusion. My grandma got tired of duplicate names in the family (very big family) and when my brother considered Hannah for one of his 6 kids, my grandma politely asked him to chose a name that wasn't already in use to avoid confusion. The other hannah is my cousins daughter and a year older than me, so a cousin once removed and already and adult, but I completely understood where my grandma was coming from and apparently my brother did too. They went with Maggie instead.