I love this name BUT!!

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and figured I'd give it a kick start with posting this :]

I'm due next February and expecting a little girl, and I have one name that I absolutely adore but I have a problem.

The name is Caitlin Joanna, two names of my best friends who, sadly, I lost in recent months. I thought this would be a really lovely way of honouring them. I also love the way it sounds and think the names flow well with eachother.

But I have a problem; my sister's name is also Caitlin! And I'm not sure if I'd like the idea of having both a daughter and sister with the same name - yes, I'm a bit picky! I'm really fond of the name! I thought about having Joanna as the first name, but I'm not liking the idea of it being a first name and would rather keep it as a second - heck, my friend even hated her name!!

What do you think? Should this really matter? Is it a problem? Thanks for your opinions ladies. :]

Congratulations and welcome to BB.

Personally I would not use name that is a sister or any close relative or friend that is living.

Yeah I love the name too (its on my list) but yeah if it was my sisters name I wouldnt use it

I would. She could be called Katie for short?

I think if you love the name and it means so much to you then go for it. :)

And even though the Caitlin isn't exactly after your sister, surely she'd be more likely to be flattered than upset about it?

Welcome to BB :D

I do like the name, but i'm not sure if I'd use it if it were my Sisters name either.

Any chance of picking a totally different first name and having two middle names? Might be a bit of a mouthful, but at least you'd be honouring your friends (and your sister).

My brother has the same name as our uncle and it's kind of nice. Definitely not a problem and they even have the same last name so I say go for it!

I had this conundrum until I discovered I was having a boy, which solved it for me.

I love the name Kate, but that's my sister's name. TBH, I was going to use it anyway. I didn't really see that it was an issue.

Also, I have a niece called Caitlin and she's generally called Caty. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

My family has lots of repeated names s it would not be a problem for me.
You could always spell it differently if you wanted to?
Have you spoken to your sister at all?

I would use it. My son is named after my brother & my DH's brother who both have the same name) - my DH's brother has sadly passed but mine is still aliveand kicking and was as proud as punch when we told him the name :)

It's a beautiful name and I'd definitely use it if you love it that much. My sister would have been flattered if I'd chosen her name for our DD, even if it wasn't really to honour her, LOL!

I had two good friends killed in a car accident the day before my 18 birthday, one of them was my best friend. I was tempted to use her name for DD but I wondered if it would saden me or if it would seem a little morbid (her name wasn't that common). I'm still not sure TBH and I still wonder about using it if we have another girl. I do think it's a lovely way to honour your friends though.

Go for it :)

My sister has the same name as my aunt - my Mum's SIL. It never seemed strange, particularly since they used diff shortenings/ nicknames. I say, if you love it and it has meaning for you, go for it.

I'd use it, it's a gorgeous name and I think it would be lovely for your DD to be named after your best friend and your sister.

My son shares his first name with his great grandfather. For the first 3 months of DS life i couldn't bring myself to call him by his name cause it felt too weird, it was grandpa's name. But since then it has been great. DS is referred to as Archie and Grandpa is referred to as old Archie. Its not an issue.

:] Thanks ladies for your inputs - I'm feeling a bit better about using it now - I'm even more eager to do so now :] I haven't mentioned it to my sister yet, because I wanted to be almost positive I would use it before doing so, so now I'll have to go talk to her about it ;P And yes, hopefully she'll be flattered in some way :]

Thanx!!

COuld you change the spelling to Katelyn or something so it looks different?

I like the name Katherine, my sister's name is Kathryn. It's never stopped me from considering it, but DP has suggested we have to then use my other sister's name somehow. I don't think they'd see it that way and I've often said that I'd like to use Katherine, spelt differently, and call a DD Kate for short.

Have you spoken to your sister about it?

Have you thought about using the both names, but the other way around? So instead if being Caitlin Joanna (which is the issue of being the same 1st name as your sister) you could swap it to Joanna Caitlin. So your bubba's middle name is the same as your sister's 1st name. Then you would not be calling your daughter by the same name as your sister, but still honoring both friends. :)