(no subject)

[redbird]

A week or so back, pantryslut pointed at a list of popular names for twins born in 2008. I looked at it a few days later, and found myself wondering whether the parents had known they were going to have twins, and if so, whether they had thought about the confusion they were letting their kids in for. "This is my brother Chris, and my other brother Chris." (Not the same name, but most boys named either Christopher or Christian are called "Chris.") Forty-three different parents thought it was a good idea to name twins Taylor and Tyler. Twenty-four 24 liked Jayden and Jaylen, another 17 liked Jayda and Jayden, and 13 others Jada and Jayden. That's going to be years of explaining that no, the person with what sounds like your name, born to the same parents on the same date and living at the same address, is not you. No, you haven't already voted. Yes, you passed algebra. No, you haven't already gotten your free birthday ice cream cone. No, those aren't my SAT scores. Who wants to be the kid explaining that no, they aren't the Jayden Smith, of that address, son of John and Jane Smith, born on X date, in the 11th grade of such-and-such school, who smashed a stolen car, they're his sibling Jaylen, who was riding in the passenger seat?

I suspect that at least some of the Taylor/Tyler and Jayden/Jaylen pairs are same-sex, but Adrian/Adriana aren't going to have an easy time of it either.

It's enough to make naming twins Summer and Autumn (15), or Faith and Grace (17), seem like a good idea. Yes, the parents are being visibly clever, but neither name is problematic by itself, and the children aren't going to have to explain that no, there really are two of them.

Comments

[yarram.livejournal.com]

...and heaven help the parents if *both* twins turn out to be hearing-impaired... *evil grin*

[fuzzygabby.livejournal.com]

I'm just amazed that a version of my name is number six. (I'm Gabrielle, rather than Gabriella.)

[ckd]

I knew a pair of twins in high school named Sunny and Sandy. (No, I don't know if they were conceived on a beach.)

[bugshaw.livejournal.com]

No they're not duplicates on the database, they're twins!

*Fancies Ronald, Roland and Arnold as triplet names*

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

There is a trend towards using whole names for even tiny children--"James" not "Jim" or "Jimmy" for your three-year-old, for example. But even so, "Christian" and "Christopher" is just too much.

I have cousins who named their (non-twin) children matchy names. Kyle, Kirsten, and Kayla; Rachel and Ryan; Ashley and Alison. (That's three sets of sibling grandchildren of the same grandparents.) Their parents all have five-letter names ending in y. Frankly, this has always struck me as weird, and not in a good way.

But then, I am not in favor of naming kids whatever Junior, for the same reason: I feel like people should have their own name that is all theirs.

markgritter's youngest brother is Matthew, and Mark-and-Matt if it was twins would be too much, but in a family with a Dan and a Sarah it works out all right. Matthew was extremely enthusiastic when I mentioned liking the name Matthias for a boychild--I think the idea of a prospective (far-future, which is to say, more than nine months off for sure) nephew who was both named after him and not named after him appealed to him a great deal more than a nephew who was named after him. But again, there's distance in that; if it was twins called Matthew and Matthias, the parents would deserve a good kicking.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Even so, I imagine Mark and his brother get tired of people who meet them asking whether their other siblings are Luke and John.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

People don't really meet them without the others. Their lives aren't arranged like that. Even now, most of the people to whom we would introduce Matt on a visit are already clear that Sarah and Dan are not Luke and John, or even Luka and John or Luke and Johanna.

And their lives have never been arranged like that, since there are eight years and two siblings between them.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

I used to work in a public-facing role, and was often amused by names. One mother in particular stands out in my memory; four children named Shaun, Shane, Sharon and Sharlene.

[mjlayman.livejournal.com]

And technically, when you do the Junior and then III, IV, etc. thing, when the oldest (or older) dies, everybody else moves up. So you'd be Junior for most of your life and then suddenly you don't have that anymore.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

The ones that appall me are Makayla and Makenzie (two tries and they couldn't spell either Michaela or Mackenzie right??) and Heaven and Nevaeh (ranked 14 - why not just call the second twin Hell (or Hel, if you want to be Norse about it) and be done with it?

I was also left wondering if Ella and Emma eventually have a younger sister, will they call her Enna? There were an Emma and Anna (listed as Anna and Emma); perhaps their *older* sister is Ella.

Some people's parents.

[rushthatspeaks.livejournal.com]

I think that if you're the Nevaeh half of that you are contractually obligated to be the evil twin.

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

Exactly, and I think people should be able to choose their own contractual obligations, not have them wished on them at birth. What if the Heaven twin wants to be the evil one??

[athenais.livejournal.com]

Ha, I just made the same comment about Enna without seeing yours.

Makayla is a very common spelling for Michaela these days. It became rather popular around 1999-2000, for some reason.

[bohemiancoast.livejournal.com]

Oh, hey, that's like the Scottish pair of names Agnes and Senga. Not appearing on this list because it has clearly fallen far out of favour.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

I hope Ella and Emma get sisters named Enna and Ooah.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I'm also puzzled by people who give their children famous names. I mean, if your surname is Shakespeare - an unusual but not really rare name - do you really want to name your son William? And (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare_(tenor)) Without a middle name? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare_(American_football))

[redbird]

Indeed. There was an Elizabeth Taylor in my dorm when I was in college, but she was just enough older than I was that it's possible that her parents named her before the actress became so famous that the connection would jump to everyone's mind.

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Taylor is also the name of the Chicago Tribune's book review editor.

[micheinnz.livejournal.com]

Who wants to be the kid explaining that no, they aren't the Jayden Smith, of that address, son of John and Jane Smith, born on X date, in the 11th grade of such-and-such school, who smashed a stolen car, they're his sibling Jaylen, who was riding in the passenger seat?

"No, I'm the _good_ twin."

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Actually, I LIKE the names "Faith" and "Grace" as names for twins.

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I want to send flowers to all the mothers who called their kids Isabella and Sophia, or Caleb and Joshua. Because really!

[redbird]

Yes--here's to all the parents of twins who named them as if they'd been born a year or three apart!

[Some of those paired names have me wondering, "Hasn't anyone heard of ultrasound? Or leaving it as 'Baby boy/girl Thus-and-such' until they catch up on sleep and think of a second name, if they didn't realize they were having twins?"]

[shsilver.livejournal.com]

Not twins, but my mother dated a guy named Jerry Z------- in high school. Several years later, my father's cousin married a guy named Jerry Z------- from the same time. When they got together, they realized that they didn't know each other. Turns out the two men were brothers. My mother dated Jerome, my dad's cousin married Gerald. Both used the nickname Jerry.