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One of the nice things about having a middle name is that it can be a fall back name. I went by my middle name for a year. I've known several people who have gone exclusively by their mns. It's great that you love your dd's mn, but if you give her mn to another dd as a fn, you take away her ability to use it herself. Perhaps someday Keely would like to go by Maeve and you will be able to call her that and hear it all the time. I wouldn't do it.

I know three sisters who all have the same middle name (Ann). They gave their daughters the same middle name as well. It's not something I would do myself, but it's not the worst thing. At least their first names aren't the same. I don't think it would be that big of a deal if one of your daughters had Maeve as a MN and the other had Maeve as a FN.

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BTW Maeve is lovely.

I think it is fine. Better you use a name you really love, than a name you only kind of love. I have a friend whose name is Hollie Carmen. She then has a brother Tyler and a little sister, Carmen. Basically exact same situation as you- her parents loved Carmen so used it as Hollie's mn and then six years later or whatever it was, still loved it and used it as a fn for Carmen. They both actually like that they are 'joined' by their name.

I wouldn't do it. I think I would feel like I wasn't important enough to get my own name, or that my parents wanted me to be just like my sister.

I personally wouldn't do it. I understand why you want to use Maeve again, it really is a stunning name. But like others have mentioned Keely will either like sharing her MN with her little sister or she will feel ripped off. It's not something that will traumatize her for life, but she may feel a bit cheated. So I wouldn't take the chance. If Keely were old enough for you to ask her how she felt, it would be different.

It's certainly not common but it's definitely not wrong. My first dd has Nicole for her mn. My dh chose that. With dd #2, we didn't know the sex until five days before she was born. Up until that time, I had chosen Nicholas for a boy because I couldn't find anything I liked better. Believe me, I wouldn't have given it a second thought. Who knows, Keely and Maeve might find it rather cool to share a name.

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It could get much worse. My sister has three s-i-l-s and they all have the same mn, Lynn. To top that, my sister's mn is Lynne. ;-)

This message was edited 5/28/2009, 8:12 AM

My brother married a woman who already had a son from her first marriage named Bryan. She and my brother went on to have three sons, and named one of them Andrew Bryan. My sister-in-law said she wanted to do this to create a link between Bryan and his half-brothers, since they have different last names.

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So in that case, there was a reason for it, but in general it's something I would avoid. My middle name is Diane, and my mother used to talk about how much she loved the name Diane, to the point that I often wondered why she made it my middle name and not my first. But I think that if she had gone on to name one of my sisters Diane, it would have bothered me. I'd prefer to have my own first and middle names within the family, that belong to me and that I wouldn't share with anyone else. For this reason, I advise against it.

It's not the worst thing you could do...

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Weird to say on a name board, but in the broad scope of things, it's just names. Middle names to be exact which are considered kind of superfluous anyway, at least in some countries. The sisters will be fine and they will get over it, most people have bigger things to worry about in their lives besides their names. If you love it do it.

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Edited to add I thought about doing the same thing actually. I have several names I really love and would be heartbroken if I couldn't use, but I have no clue how many daughters I'll have. So I'd do something like Fable Beatrix, Beatrix Rosemary, Rosemary Mila, etc...

This message was edited 5/28/2009, 6:56 AM

I know sisters who are Katie Alice and Alice Something-Else-Which-I-Forget. Apparently their parents were really keen to use Alice for one reason or another, so gave it as a mn to Katie in case they didn't have another daughter. Then they had another daughter lol.

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I think it's fine really. As long as they don't have the same first name. I personally probably wouldn't do it, because I have way too many names I really want to use!

I wouldn't do it. I think if Keely Maeve had a sister named Maeve that she might feel like her middle name got ripped off. Though I guess it's also possible if she were super close to her sister that she'd enjoy sharing a name. But I wouldn't take the chance. I'd find something else.

I would find it a bit strange to have a Keely Maeve and a Maeve Something. However, my middle name is Ellen and my little sister's first name is Elanor, and that doesn't bother either of us, so . . . it depends. We're 15 years apart so there's never been a sibling jealousy or rivalry issue between us.

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How old is Keely? If you got pregnant and had another girl, would Keely be old enough that you could ask her how she feels about it? She's the only one who will ever be affected by it. She might be honoured or she might feel cheated. If she's old enough if and when it happens, ask her.