When Sean and I were coming up with names back in the summer of ’04, I knew I wanted something unique. We had never talked about names so it was a bit of a slap in the face to realize that the whole naming thing was kind of a big deal.
“What do you mean you like that name? Girls with *that* name are always bitches.”
“That’s a fat name.”
“Uh, no child of mine, thank you very much!”
It got kind of ugly, then, sitting in lawn chairs in the backyard, me with an uncarbonated beverage of some sort, Sean with a light beer (grrrr), we stumbled upon Briar. It was perfect, both of us loving it almost instantly.
Fast forward some 15 months and we arrived at Avery. We were getting better at this naming thing, both of us happy to have unique names that kept a healthy distance from trendy or just plain strange.
Imagine my surprise when a woman commented on my other blog, that she too had daughters named Avery and Briar. And she lived in New York State. And she had a blog. I am ashamed to say I was somewhat dismayed. I wanted that, wanted the distinction of having the only Briar and Avery. Childish? Maybe, but again, I had never considered how personal and significant naming one’s children would be.
Then the other day as I pounded out a Target Baby Registry in the interest of getting a free $20 gift card I stumbled upon another odd coincidence. There is a woman named Amanda living in Texas. We share the same last name and her husband is also a Sean, though he spells his name Shaun. Weird, right? How about this, I am due April 26th, she is due April 23rd. Ewwww.
I have to admit today I checked her registry and I am pleased to announce she is expecting a boy, but still, isn’t that just the slightest bit creepy?
Anything like this ever happened to you?
This is funny because a long time ago (almost 10 years ago) I had decided that I would name a daughter Briar. I love everything about that name.
Well, Tibo wasn't very keen on it and it does not work well in French so when it came time to choosing names – it got the cut. We, too, wanted names that were unique but not uncommon, not made up, and easy to pronounce in both French and English. From the moment Tibo and I met, we loved the name Zelda for a girl and were set on that but we took a long time to find Felix. I would get worried about sharing the name Zelda because I loved it so much I was sure someone would 'steal' it. How silly is that – I mean it is kind of a crazy name and with the Nintendo game most people aren't into it! (We are NOT into the game.) Yet I still felt possessive. (It's getting the cut for the 2nd kid btw – in case you fall in love with it too.)
Either way, I know exactly how you feel because whenever I read about someone naming their child Felix I feel a little sad – darn!
Yep – just the other day I was emailing back and forth with someone and we found out that our name choices for each child had been IDENTICAL. And my kids have UNUSUAL names, to say the least.
Which is not to say that I never run into other kids with their names, which I always DO find distressing. I recognize this as being silly and at the same time, this drive to have SPECIAL kids these days is SO strong.
And no KIDDING about naming fights! Sheesh! My husband says that we're going to let the kids name the next one.
The next one? Beck? What are you saying?
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As someone who gave her children the plainest of names, I'm used to there being many others out there. But they're not MY Ben, or MY Jack. So that's OK.
There is a women in my city with the exact. same. name. Right down to our middle names. She got our phone and our internet service when we moved in. It is a MAJOR hassle, especially because she is a library scofflaw.
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So like, this one time? In the hospital?
There was another Christine S and they kept confusing us and wanting to take out my appendix.
I was in for dehydration….
Sean is much cooler then Shuan. LOL
That Avery and Briar thing is particularly weird.
I discovered recently, when googling myself (that sounds kind of gross, sorry), that there is someone in San Antonio with my name. It's really odd, because I have a somewhat unique name paired with a moderately unique surname, and I wouldn't have thought someone else in the Western world would have it. Guess I was wrong!
I was amazed to hear a story on NPR's This American life that involved a family that had both and O and a G. Two years apart but teenagers. It does feel kind of creepy and slightly unfair not to be able to own the names.
Dying to hear about the next name you all arrive at.
We worked long and hard picking a name, and I'd still like to change it. The worst for me– when someone says they know a girl with the same name. (we have a boy)
Darlin? We lived next door, for three years, to Ree and Mr. Hot. (Okay, I'm emailing you privately to protect the innocent.)
Who had a son born 2 days before Shortman.
And today? I emailed someone at work with the same last name. He emailed me back and said, "I'm on vacation but I looked at this email because my wife's name is THE EXACT SAME AS YOURS."
well, i have met two other bloggers who have daughters with the same name as mine… that's the extent of it. and anyone who shares a name with me is either 80 or 3.
I don't think I have ever met another Janet in the history of my life. Then, this one time I started blogging? And I met two whole Janets!
Sorry, did you doze off? Most boring story, ever.
Andy and Dani are both common names so I would not be surprised to find someone else has 2 kids named the same thing. But I did find a couple with an Andy and Dani – with the same last name – which is weird because it's NOT the most common last name.
Yes, creepy.
Briar is a very cute name.
I ran into my identical twin while sitting in a cafe in Paris back in 2003. Except she is French and I am American. We stared at each other the whole time I was there because we looked exactly alike. It was like looking in the mirror.
I think that lady was just making it up, trying to freak you out. š
We tried for unique but spell~able names for our boys. I liked Ashton for our firstborn, but my mom was afraid it was too closely related to Ashley and he'd be made fun of. Tyler seemed more unique at the time but since he's been born I've met more Tyler's than I can count.
I think Gavin is unique and so far I have only met one other one… and he lived in Indiana and was older than me so I think we're safe. š
Just keep having kids and eventually the coincidences will vanish š
We have four, and for our last one we wanted something truly unique and different from anything else we'd done up to that point. We waited until nearly two days before she was born and came up with Zoe Piper. We loved it immediately, and have yet to find anyone else with that particular combination of names. And it makes for some cute nicknames . . . zippy, Zoebop, etc. She's a hoot. No one liked it initially, but it's growing on them, of course.
My wife's name is truly one of a kind and we've never met anyone or heard of anyone with the same name. It's Garsy – a combination of her parents' names.
I'm just plain old . . .
Brian
Let's just hope this other Amanda doesn't do anything crazy, like put a sex tape on the net. Wouldn't want to have to clear up that bit of confusion with your loved ones.
As for baby names, my kid, like every other kid in the known universe is named Jack. I just hope his sister Molly's name doesn't go and get all trendy too. Yuck!
Hmmm…. how about Luke and Lukas born a day apart at the same hospital with the same doctor via c-section to women who are both graphic designers???
Just plain crazy!
Our Target registry turned up another Jen and Husband with the same last name that was getting married on the same day as us.
There is also another blog out there with a Jen and Husband and two girls and SHE HAS THE SAME COUCH AND RUG AS ME. I swear I almost peed myself when I saw a picture of her living room. I can't explain to you how disturbing it was to see my living room in her house.
I guess that's what I get for marrying someone with a common name when I have a name like Jennifer. We're everywhere.
dude–there are LOTS of christine greens, but all those coincidences you mentoned–too frickin' weird!
Running on empty