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HelpMatchy Twin Names and Types of Matchiness.
A lot of people really seem to like giving their twins matching names. This practice has always irked me, because I feel that matchy twin names encourage people to see the twins as a set, rather than individuals. I've classified some types of "Matchiness" here.
Giving the twins a variation on the same name
For opposite sex twins, it ends up being stuff like:
Julian and Julie, Juliana, Julia
John and Joanna, Joanne, Joan
Joseph and Josephine
Alexander and Alexandra
For same sex twins, it's more like this, and more common on female twins than male twins:
Nadia and Nadine
Claire and Clara
Ella and Eleanor
Richard and Ricardo
None of these are bad names, but when put on twins in a set, it looks kind of lazy and basically says: "you two are just slightly different versions of the same person", and while perhaps in appearance they are, in personality they definitely aren't.
Rhyming the twins' names
Works on twins of all gender combinations:
Tim and Tom
Lillian and Jillian
Ned and Ed
Christina and Marina
Paul and Saul
Ellie and Kelly
Demi and Remy
To me this is the worst sort of matchy twin name. Fortunately it's also the rarest.
Names that fit in a set/pair
Works on twins of all gender combinations:
Artemis and Apollo
Castor and Pollux
Victoria and Alfred
Mary and Joseph
Sunny and Luna
Skye and Meadow
Winter and Summer
Michael and Gabriel
Honor and Justice
I think this is the least terrible twin naming convention, because depending on the names chosen, it might not even look like a set. Sets that don't look like sets or aren't obvious don't bother me so much, but blatantly "pair" names do.
I think twins should be named like any other children-pick two names you like and give them to your kids. You can try to balance them out and make sure they sound good together, but ultimately twins are two individual children and their names should reflect that. What do you guys think?
Giving the twins a variation on the same name
For opposite sex twins, it ends up being stuff like:
Julian and Julie, Juliana, Julia
John and Joanna, Joanne, Joan
Joseph and Josephine
Alexander and Alexandra
For same sex twins, it's more like this, and more common on female twins than male twins:
Nadia and Nadine
Claire and Clara
Ella and Eleanor
Richard and Ricardo
None of these are bad names, but when put on twins in a set, it looks kind of lazy and basically says: "you two are just slightly different versions of the same person", and while perhaps in appearance they are, in personality they definitely aren't.
Rhyming the twins' names
Works on twins of all gender combinations:
Tim and Tom
Lillian and Jillian
Ned and Ed
Christina and Marina
Paul and Saul
Ellie and Kelly
Demi and Remy
To me this is the worst sort of matchy twin name. Fortunately it's also the rarest.
Names that fit in a set/pair
Works on twins of all gender combinations:
Artemis and Apollo
Castor and Pollux
Victoria and Alfred
Mary and Joseph
Sunny and Luna
Skye and Meadow
Winter and Summer
Michael and Gabriel
Honor and Justice
I think this is the least terrible twin naming convention, because depending on the names chosen, it might not even look like a set. Sets that don't look like sets or aren't obvious don't bother me so much, but blatantly "pair" names do.
I think twins should be named like any other children-pick two names you like and give them to your kids. You can try to balance them out and make sure they sound good together, but ultimately twins are two individual children and their names should reflect that. What do you guys think?
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Replies
A long-forgotten celeb named her twins Amy and May. Which is pretty easy to understand. But there's also Marina and Marian, or Alice and Celia, where the anagram is more subtle.
Meanings also work somewhat. Deborah and Melissa; Anne and Grace; Helen and Lucy. And antonyms: Dawn and Eve; Ebony and Ivory; Lily and Susan.
Your Julian and Julia example reminded me that I've always liked the idea of using Gillian and Juliet as mns for twins. I wouldn't make them fns because of probable nn issues, but it'd be a good link.
Once I read about conjoined twin girls who were named Mary Ellen and Marie Helen. They didn't survive, poor little things, so I suppose it hardly mattered, but I'd have been more comfortable with Mary Ellen and Helen Marie, I think.
I'm battling with boys! All I can think of is Peter and Simon.
Interesting thread: thank you!
Meanings also work somewhat. Deborah and Melissa; Anne and Grace; Helen and Lucy. And antonyms: Dawn and Eve; Ebony and Ivory; Lily and Susan.
Your Julian and Julia example reminded me that I've always liked the idea of using Gillian and Juliet as mns for twins. I wouldn't make them fns because of probable nn issues, but it'd be a good link.
Once I read about conjoined twin girls who were named Mary Ellen and Marie Helen. They didn't survive, poor little things, so I suppose it hardly mattered, but I'd have been more comfortable with Mary Ellen and Helen Marie, I think.
I'm battling with boys! All I can think of is Peter and Simon.
Interesting thread: thank you!
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As a twin, I probably should weigh in.
I have a matchy name with my sister (Heidi and Holly). Matching names was a pain in my rear end, but I love my name and so does my sister. I would never consider changing it. We are identical too... so confusion was bound to occur, and my mom could have chosen any name and it would have still made people refer to us as "the twins".
I agree with you that twins are individuals and I think that names should be chosen for parent's taste rather than by matching the names. However, I also agree with Roxstar below... that twins will always be grouped together, no matter their names.
I despise rhyming twin names (i.e. Bonnie and Connie), but have known some and they didn't seem to mind.
I don't reccommend using the same name in variations for twins and I have never actually met twins who were named that way. But, I have met a sibling set named Alexander and Alexis (Xander and Lexi). I think it reflects the parents tastes in general rather than their twin-naming style.
I love the idea of twin sets that match in meaning though.
I personally planned to name all my children names that meant "joy" at one point. Luckily the names are varied and most match (Farah, Rina, Desta, Kalea, Ronen, Wynn, Nandi, Kivan, etc). Some of the combos you listed are actally nice (Alfred and Victoria).
Children develop their individuality because of, and in spite of, their names.
The best we can do is choose names that reflect our values, because those will be the values we pass on.
I have a matchy name with my sister (Heidi and Holly). Matching names was a pain in my rear end, but I love my name and so does my sister. I would never consider changing it. We are identical too... so confusion was bound to occur, and my mom could have chosen any name and it would have still made people refer to us as "the twins".
I agree with you that twins are individuals and I think that names should be chosen for parent's taste rather than by matching the names. However, I also agree with Roxstar below... that twins will always be grouped together, no matter their names.
I despise rhyming twin names (i.e. Bonnie and Connie), but have known some and they didn't seem to mind.
I don't reccommend using the same name in variations for twins and I have never actually met twins who were named that way. But, I have met a sibling set named Alexander and Alexis (Xander and Lexi). I think it reflects the parents tastes in general rather than their twin-naming style.
I love the idea of twin sets that match in meaning though.
I personally planned to name all my children names that meant "joy" at one point. Luckily the names are varied and most match (Farah, Rina, Desta, Kalea, Ronen, Wynn, Nandi, Kivan, etc). Some of the combos you listed are actally nice (Alfred and Victoria).
Children develop their individuality because of, and in spite of, their names.
The best we can do is choose names that reflect our values, because those will be the values we pass on.
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I very much agree with you. It's as if because twins are so special, the parents make an extra effort to accommodate for that through the names they choose. Let's see, I've known a few twins: Donald and Ronald, Lenny and Lexie (as far as I knew, these were their full names), Bernadette and Bernadine, Daniel and David, Lucas and Lauren, Brandon and Jeremy, Elisha and Brittany. I'm sure there have been more that I just can't recall this early in the morning, however, the point I'm trying to make is that most of the twins were given matching or rhyming names.
Personally, I'd only give twins names that I loved, period. Now if I happened to like names beginning with the same letter, I'd probably use them. I'll admit it would give me pause to do that yet I'd probably go with what I loved.
BTW, there were twin girls in our local NICU named Vickie and Victoria! :-(
Personally, I'd only give twins names that I loved, period. Now if I happened to like names beginning with the same letter, I'd probably use them. I'll admit it would give me pause to do that yet I'd probably go with what I loved.
BTW, there were twin girls in our local NICU named Vickie and Victoria! :-(
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Well...
First off, I hate rhyming names. For twins or siblings, it's awful. Totally cheesy and sounds like something from a cartoon.
I don't, however, have anything against names that match in some way if those happen to be two names that are loved.
Some matching is super cheesy though, like Sunny and Luna, or Summer and Skye. So I guess what I'm really saying is that it depends on the names!
Twins I know/ I have known:
Alice and Laura (their English names)
Laura and Rebecca
Kate and Marama (these two are so unmatched it actually seems weird to me)
Matthew and Christopher
So, in my experience, people don't really go for matchy names.
I'm due with twins in December, and we're choosing the two names we like the most. They'll either be Tamsin and Maeve, or Tamsin and Luna, depending on if me or my boyfriend finally wins the debate :p
First off, I hate rhyming names. For twins or siblings, it's awful. Totally cheesy and sounds like something from a cartoon.
I don't, however, have anything against names that match in some way if those happen to be two names that are loved.
Some matching is super cheesy though, like Sunny and Luna, or Summer and Skye. So I guess what I'm really saying is that it depends on the names!
Twins I know/ I have known:
Alice and Laura (their English names)
Laura and Rebecca
Kate and Marama (these two are so unmatched it actually seems weird to me)
Matthew and Christopher
So, in my experience, people don't really go for matchy names.
I'm due with twins in December, and we're choosing the two names we like the most. They'll either be Tamsin and Maeve, or Tamsin and Luna, depending on if me or my boyfriend finally wins the debate :p
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What makes you so sure that people who name their twins "matchy" names didn't choose the names because they liked them?
People always treat twins as something of a package deal, no matter what their names are. Unique names or not, they often still just refer to them as "the Jones twins" or if they happen to meet one without the other they're apt to ask "Which one are you?" It's just part of being a twin, I guess.
My stepfather and his twin sister are Larry and Linda. They start with the same letter, yes, but those were also extremely fashionable names when they were born.
I have never heard of twins named Richard and Ricardo, or Paul and Saul, and doubt it's very common as those types of names are so difficult to distinguish by ear. In the old days, before there were reliable ways of knowing twins were on the way, giving such "lazy" names was just the parents making the best of having an extra baby arrive on short or no notice.
People always treat twins as something of a package deal, no matter what their names are. Unique names or not, they often still just refer to them as "the Jones twins" or if they happen to meet one without the other they're apt to ask "Which one are you?" It's just part of being a twin, I guess.
My stepfather and his twin sister are Larry and Linda. They start with the same letter, yes, but those were also extremely fashionable names when they were born.
I have never heard of twins named Richard and Ricardo, or Paul and Saul, and doubt it's very common as those types of names are so difficult to distinguish by ear. In the old days, before there were reliable ways of knowing twins were on the way, giving such "lazy" names was just the parents making the best of having an extra baby arrive on short or no notice.
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I work as an ob/gyn (well, I'm a medical resident right now, but I still work in the field) and one of expectant parents' favorite things to talk about is names, so I hear a lot of interesting names, especially for twins. They like the names, obviously, but they specifically look for names to match. Let's say Mom likes Joan and Dad likes Sara. Do they name the twins Joan and Sara? Sometimes. But I've seen parents get rid of one name they do like (Sara) to find a matching name with Joan, like Joanna. Larry and Linda don't bother me-it's not that the names start with the same letter, it's that they rhyme (Larry and Mary) or match (Larry and Lara). I agree with you about the olden days, but now it's pretty easy to know how many babies you're having long before they're actually born, so last-minute naming isn't much of an excuse. Ultimately, other people can call their kids what they like, but this is just how I feel about matchy twin names. And I have seen Richard and Ricardo-one parent was from Latin America and they wanted a Spanish name to honor that. Never Paul and Saul, though, I'll admit.
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I'm a nurse and I see this, too, but it mostly is parents either going for same first initials or rhyming names.
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I'm trying to think of twins' names I know. Keith and Eddie, Jacqueline and Jessica, who went by Jessie and Jackie, Nancy and Susan, Charles and Charlene, Annie and Angie, though somebody told me Anie's real name was Iris and she just went by Annie for reasons of her own. Ken and Kent, Wade and Wendy, and in my own family there's one pair of twins about five years old now called Brian and Stacy. Stacy's a girl. I always did wonder about Stacy, you never see that on little girls anymore.
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I have a good friend named Stacie, and I really like the name.
I do know two Staceys who are guys though (both older). I agree, you don't hear it on young girls anymore. Hmm...
I know tons of twins and triplets (we band together). Plus, there is a festival every year in Twinsburg, OH. I have only been once, but whew... tons of multiples.
I know:
Scott and Shawn, Heidi and Holly (obvi), Heiri and Raisa, Dorothy (Dot) and Darlene (Dar), Oscar and Lila, Michelle and Melissa (Missy), Hannah and Travis, Blue and Jay (their last name is Bird, no lie), Nino and Maria, Francesca and Antonina, Ian and Leo, etc....
I do know two Staceys who are guys though (both older). I agree, you don't hear it on young girls anymore. Hmm...
I know tons of twins and triplets (we band together). Plus, there is a festival every year in Twinsburg, OH. I have only been once, but whew... tons of multiples.
I know:
Scott and Shawn, Heidi and Holly (obvi), Heiri and Raisa, Dorothy (Dot) and Darlene (Dar), Oscar and Lila, Michelle and Melissa (Missy), Hannah and Travis, Blue and Jay (their last name is Bird, no lie), Nino and Maria, Francesca and Antonina, Ian and Leo, etc....
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