I have been noticing afresh how much difference there can be between two names that are technically very very similar. For example:
Addison and Edison
Addison and Allison
Allison and Ellison
Everly and Beverly
Jane and Jean and Joan and June
Joan and John
Jane and Jade
Jade and Jude
David and Davis
Liam and Leah
Leo and Leah
Mila and Milo
Chloe and Cleo
Alex and Axel
Scarlet and Charlotte
You can imagine that someone who came into this situation without being familiar with any of these names might struggle to understand why one of them was in fashion and another was dated, why one was “for girls” and one was “for boys,” why one was a certain style and the other was a completely different style, why one was twenty times as popular as the other, why someone might love one name and not like a similar name even a little bit.
I’m less interested (though still interested) in the ones that feel like feminine/masculine versions of a name: I feel as if we could readily understand that distinction even if were were suddenly dropped into a set of names we’d never encountered before. I’m more interested in the ones such as Everly/Beverly, where one is modern, surnamey, and in style, and the other is dated (though poised for its next surge) and not currently in style. Or Scarlet/Charlotte, where the sound difference is so small, but the style difference is huge. Or David/Davis, where the former is so familiar the eye can just skip right over it in the name book and most of us know a ton of Davids/Daves, but the latter is fresh and fits well with the current surname style.
I’m interested in situations where a dated/tired name was completely revived by changing a letter, changing a vowel, or changing the ending. Laura to Lauren. Allison to Ellison. Judy to Jude. Jason to Mason and Jace. It’s funny how this feels like something we could easily do ourselves to come up with new fresh options, but as soon as I start looking at names, I see how difficult it is. Cora to Coren? Addison to Ammison, or to Addisey? Avery to Aver? Jackson to Mackson? No.
I don’t have a question per se, but wondered if you too would be interested in discussing this: mentioning Surprisingly Similar Pairs, and/or trying your hand at modifying overly familiar names to make them fresh and new.
yes and also spelling differences! like jorja and georgia occupy ENTIRELY different real estate in my mind despite sounding the same
Agree! And I know a Cate who is never Kate (lol) in my mind.
As a Catherine sometimes called Cathy, I really find Kathy to be SOOO different?! I don’t mind Katherine or Kathryn (in fact I was named after my two grandmothers named Kathryn, go figure) but Kathy makes me twitchy!
Coraline and Caroline occupy very different spaces in my mind.
As a Jean, I was convinced that my whole life would change if I could have simply been named Jane. I think Jan and Jen are also names that I would group in the “J-n” sound names that look similar, but are all very different.
And Carolyn vs. Caroline. I was named after my mom and my aunt (Carole and Lyn), but I think the name Caroline sounds so much more current and preppy. I love it, even though the only difference is a long /i/ vs. my short /i/ sound.
My ten year old can’t remember if a boy she knows is named Bruce or Bryce, and I’m always surprised because they seem so dissimilar in my brain.
Georgia and Georgette. I like Georgette. I just named my daughter it. I don’t like Georgia at all.
Oh I see it! Specially the age gap between Jason and Mason!
Also the age gap between Amber and Ember.
Edith and Eden!
And Edith/Ethan
I have an Edith and it is misheard sometimes- both of those are just so different in style that it takes me aback when it happens haha
A friend named their (now 17 year old) son kyson. Tyson with a k. At the time the name wasn’t on the name registry (I don’t think) but now it pops up. It came to mind when you mentioned one letter change from a common name.
As someone who named their child Beatrice, I feel Beatrice and Beatrix are VERY different.
As the parent of a Beatrix, I heartily agree!
I have a Beatrix and also find them so different! I did not realize how frequently I’d be misheard, especially considering we also use the nickname Trixie!
A fun game of “what did you say?” for the hearing impaired. A game I get to play all the time! lol
You, Swistle, blew my mind with a comment once that Juniper is like an updated Jennifer. It is! But I’ve always liked Juniper and never liked Jennifer much. This was meaningful to me, as I would love to name a child after my late mother, Jennifer, but have such a hard time generating enthusiasm for the name (and also have only had boy babies so far!). So the Juniper comparison was super helpful!
Also, a friend’s daughter is Persephone and I realized at one point how close it sounds to Stephanie (or Per-Stephanie I guess). Even though the sounds are quite similar, they have such different vibes!
Here’s a funny thing to think about: Jennifer is a form of the name Guinevere (the Cornish version of the French version of a Welsh name!). You can hear it when you say them out loud, but think what different styles they represent! I can’t even imagine the same parents being interested in both names, yet they’re all part of the same family.
Obviously the one that pops to mind for me is Suzanne and Susan – the spellings are different but the syllable sounds are SO similar. People mishear/misspell my name as Susan ALL the time but they strike me as wildly different.
Will and Wills are very different to me.
Jude vs. Judy
Therese vs Theresa
I am now distracted by thinking about all the -ary/-arry/-erry names (Gary! Larry! Mary! Sherry! Jerry! Carrie! Terry! Barry!) and wondering how most (all???) but Harry seem to be out of use currently. Although that is more perception than anything based on fact so they could be more popular than I realize.
Some of this is regional pronunciation, and it can lead to misunderstandings. In the region when I grew up, Harry, Barry, and Carrie were all pronounced similarly. (with an A sound as in “at.”) A new teacher from a different area unintentionally hurt the feelings of a Harry, because he thought she was calling him hairy. Later, in yet another region, I met a Tarry, who pronounced his name tairy. (How I pronounced Terry, growing up.)
What names are similar or different? It partly depends on where you live…
As a Shari rhymes with Gary (at sounding A too) I totally feel this! I am called Sheri all the time…not the same name. Even my husband doesn’t pronounce my name the way I think it should be done. I’m used to it now but so annoying!
My family and I had a conversation about this over the weekend (not because of this post — I think maybe I had Larry on the brain because of the family convo) and they all agree with you both and I CANNOT HEAR IT. Sheri/Sherry/Shari all sound identical to me!
Yes! I’m a May-gan, not a Meggin, and it drives me quietly nuts when my spouse gets it wrong.
This is so interesting, because to me that feels like such a dialect/accent thing rather than a specific pronunciation that I would keep track of getting correct. I can sort of imagine how Shari would be different from Sheri, but when I try to say it that way it feels super forced and like I’m putting on an accent.
I realized recently that I do the same thing with Laura-family names. I use “Lar-” and “Lor-” totally interchangeably, and it never occurred to me that they were supposed to be different until someone corrected me on one of them (actually in this case I was saying Maureen as Marreen… same isue though). I realized that I usually say Lara for Laura but Loren for Lauren, for no reason at all. And I also intepret Laurence as Lorence and Lawrence as Larence – even though if someone asked me I’d say they were the same!
Graham is another one where the pronunciation differences feel like accent differences to me. I say Gram and would feel like I was putting on a drawl if asked to say Grayum.
I feel this so much! My mom (so, the person who arguably had the biggest influence on how I speak?? She was a stay at home mom for me ..) pronounces the names Merry and Mary and the word “married” totally different. I cannot differentiate between the three–they are all said the same way for me. I can sort of hear it when others do it (I have a good friend names Karen and our other close friend says “Kah-ren” like my mom would say it, or say “Mah-ry” ..), and even though I can hear it in my head, I cannot make my mouth do it!
So I guess my point here is that it’s definitely deeper than region or accent. And how the brain perceives speech/language is incredible :)
I agree there is such a slight difference between trendy names and dates names. Beverly is the perfect example. Though I wouldn’t expect the same type of parents who had chosen Everly to be choosing Beverly 10 years later? They would be sad Edith is so popular so now choosing Beverly. And Everly’s parents who be choosing… something like Henley?
The ease at which less common names are misheard as more common names (because they’re more common) is also something I’ve witnessed. Parents of an Ada and a Lydia were put out at a music class where their kids were frequently mistaken for Ava and Olivia. Speaking of Olivia, I feel like Olive is in a category all her own.
I’ve shared before, but I was totally baffled a few years back overhearing my in-laws laughing with their friends over a child named Oliver. Like it was the worst thing they could think of. They made fun of Oscar too. And my FIL wanted my youngest to be Amanda.
Isabella vs Isadora
Helen vs Helena
Mary vs Maren
Louise vs Louisa
Sara vs Tara
Sienna vs Sierra
Ava vs Eva
Jessa vs Tessa
Nora vs Cora vs Dora
Mark vs Marcus
Evan vs Ivan vs Owen
Brian vs Ryan
There was an advice column at Slate this week from a woman who wants to name her daughter Sanne, and the comments were full of people insisting that she could spell it phonetically and still have it be the same name. Which….obviously not, right? The kind of person who likes the history & tradition of the Dutch spelling is the exact opposite of the person who is going to like a name that seems like a modern invention made up of appealing sounds. But apparently there is a whole world of people who don’t even think about these things? (The letter writer should really have written here instead.)
And on that note, I nominate May and Maya as names that are very similar but actually aren’t
Marcy vs. Darcy has always perplexed me. I LOVE DARCY. Marcy is a hard no 5eva.
I work with a Kerri and a Carrie and I pronounce them differently in my brain but outSIDE my brain they are pronounced exactly the same. What is this witchcraft?
I worked on a project with a woman named Carrie, and the project leader insisted our names were pronounced differently…and I could kind of hear it? But I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how I would say the two names differently.
YES. Carrie and Kerri (and Cary!) in my head are so different! But I guess they do sound the same out loud.
Ooh, this is a fun game.
Walter vs. Walker
Linda vs. Linden
Kelly vs. Nelly
Lynn vs. Flynn
Gloria vs. Aloria
Aiden vs. Alden or Arden
Gary vs. Gray
Tiffany vs. Zoffany
Nora vs. Nova
Anya vs. Arya
Patrick vs. Maverick
Ryan vs. Cyan
Miles vs. Giles
Nolan vs. Roland
Kaia vs. Chaya
Aaliyah vs. Elia
Alicia vs. Elysia
Character in a book I just read was a hipster musician named Abram, which has a very different feeling than Abraham.
On the other hand, Donna/Diana/Deanna all seem very similar to me — I think they were popular at the same time.
It didn’t occur to me when naming my daughter Ellis that in South Africa, where she was born, they would assume I was saying Alice. I haven’t found that people here in the US make the same mistake, however.
Naturally to me, Laura/Lauren/Laurel all have a different vibe.
Lauren vs Loren
Yes, there have been times I’m thinking of a name and am surprised to realize how close it is to another name in sound or spelling. Like…
Shayla and Sheila
Briar and Brian
Clara and Carla
So we picked our kids’ names so they wouldn’t be in the top 1000.
Our oldest, Waverly, had an Everleigh in class two years of school. One teacher could not keep them straight. Surprisingly, people sometimes mishear our shy girl as Valerie. Valerie and Waverly feel so different to me that I find it startling.
Our middle kid is named Alifair. We haven’t met any other Alifairs (but there is Alafair Burke the author and Alifair McCoy of the Hatfields vs the McCoys). Unanticipated – our neighbors have a child named Oliver. Yelling both those names sounds so similar, but they feel so different.
Our youngest is Tallulah, nicknamed lulu. There are a truly stunning number of dogs named lulu that we have encountered.
I have a daughter, Brenna. I was worried before she was born that she’d be mistaken for Brenda, a totally different name in my opinion. To my surprise, she gets called Briana (or likely the people reading her name sees it as Breana) all the time
Brenna/Brenda/Breana
A few weeks ago, I was musing how Jack and Jake are similar yet different. Anya and Enya. Ana and Ava. Brad and Chad. Owen and Ian. Aiden and Eden. Eli, Elias, Elliott. Benjamin, Bennett, Benedict. Charline and Charlotte. Lily and Lila.
Sometimes it is the same name but with different spellings. Mary, Marie, Maria, Marian, Mariam … Technically all originate from the same origins but all feel very different to me. Same with: Ann, Anne, Annie, Anna, Anya.
Miriam vs Marian vs Maryanne
Even the different spellings of Marianne! Mary Ann, for instance, has a completely different feeling.
Erin and Aaron. I grew up knowing kids with both names from toddlerhood, and it wasn’t until I was in my 30s that I realized the names are so similar. They are pronounced differently to me and I should have realized it, but I guess I was more confused by Jeff and Geoff in my class, or Steven and Stephen.
This! One of the few crossover gender names that offer zero (audible) clues!
This is so interesting to me because where I live, Erin and Aaron are pronounced differently. In places where they’re pronounced the same (at least in the US), both are pronounced as Erin, so more than once I’ve been surprised to meet a male “Erin” only to then see it written as Aaron. :)
We also pronounce Kerry and Carrie differently as a previous commenter mentioned.
I know an Erin and an Aaron who married each other, people just call them “the Aarons”. They had a kid and totally missed the opportunity to name him Aerin, we were sad.
Last year my daughter had classmates named Scarlett and Charlotte, and I really felt for their poor teacher. There was also a Violet, which is close enough to be confusing in a room full of first graders.
Growing up I didn’t realize that Sean is pronounced Shawn (shoutout to actor Sean Bean aka Shawn Bonn aka Seen Been).
Our house was previously owned by someone named Alvis, which struck me as so unusual. It wasn’t until we got a piece of junk mail incorrectly directed to Elvis that I made the connection.
Candy and Condi
Why not Mackson? It sounds like the Welsh name Macsen. That was the first name I had on my list for my son’s name, and his father had it in his mind that the first idea I had that he also liked was going to be the name. I, of course, was adding and subtracting names from my list for the whole pregnancy. When I realized that Macsen rhymes with Jackson, I took it off the list to my partner’s chagrin. I am not sure what the name Jackson brings to mind for other people (Michael and/or his siblings, Gilmore Girls, cool surnamey elaboration of Jack), but my grandmother was half Native, so to me, it is all Andrew Jackson. And a name that brought him to mind was a no-go.
Also on the list was Graydon from my family tree. I wanted to nickname it to Grady when my son was young (shades of my favorite name Katie when I was a child) and Gray when he was older. Then, I realized it was only one letter off from Grayson (and one sound off from all the other spellings) and rhymed with all the Aidan/Aiden, etc. names. I did want a name with modern sounds that wasn’t too common, but I just couldn’t rhyme with Aidan. So I took that off the list. I still don’t understand why Graydon isn’t way more popular.
I also think I’m glad that Finlo/Finnlo was vetoed after seeing how popular Finley is getting for boys and girls. I still love it, but it’s so close.
For my son’s second middle name, I went with Arbor, a name one sound off from my grandfather’s name, Arthur. (My grandfather already had a junior, so I didn’t want the actual name in my son’s name.)
Arbor is very similar to Harper, which I dislike for a boy or a girl, but I like Harbor and Arbor for both. I think it’s the nature meanings that do it.
Similarly, I never liked the name Brian, but love Briony.
And one more, my half Native great-aunt was named Mary after two family members and was always called Molly. She felt the home-spun quality of English Molly didn’t fit her personality and changed her name to Marta for a while when she was older to try to keep the connection to the original name but change the feeling. It still wasn’t right until she realized that the Native form of Mary was Mali. So she changed the spelling, and that was her.
Amelia and Emilia
Wren and Reine — French for “queen.” I love the name Reine-Marie.
Then there’s also Ren — Japanese for “water lily” or “lotus” and the Star Wars link to Kylo Ren.
Eliza and Elisa!
Eliza and Liza!
Elise and Elisa!
Liza and Lisa!
Elise and Lisa!
They are all so different and yet so very much the same!! Swistle, this one is really giving my brain a lot of exercise!
I have an Eliza and never realized how close it was to Elijah until after she was born. I obsessed over the name and it never dawned on me that that’s the one that would trip is up!!
Clarity and Charity
Ginna and Jenna
Libby and Livvy and Lily and Liddy
Molly and Holly
Dahlia and Thalia
Shawn, Juan, John, Ron, Don, Lon, Vaughn
Cheyenne and Cyan
Mavis and Mabel
Roy and Joy and Troy and Boyd
Rhett and Rex
Shaw and Shawn
Joan and Jones
Burl and Earl
Joyce and Royce
Royal and Loyal
Leif and Leaf
Christopher and Kristoff
Karen and Kerensa
Jacob and Jacoby has always fascinated me. I believe they are versions of the same name (apologies if I am incorrect), but the change in syllable emphasis between the two is interesting.
Simon and Simone. Other than the M/F difference, Simon feels like a classic “Simple Simon” and Simone feels more sleek. I like both names but they are quite different.
And in Europe Simone is often male! Pronounced with three syllables.
Susannah is always getting confused for Savannah.
I shouldn’t have been so surprised, given that Savannah is more popular now. But that in itself surprises me. They are such different styles, and Susannah sounds so classic to me.
Laurens and Lawrence
I have a daughter named Sylvie and the name Sylvia to me is just a completely different name! (Though I do call her Sylvia when she’s being naughty – people get. very confused hahaha)
I agree! I also think Julie vs Julia are completely different—and, interestingly, whereas Sylvie seems more modern than Sylvia to my ear, Julia seems more modern than Julie.
I totally agree about Julie/Julia!
Blaise and Blaze feel like two entirely different names/people. Same goes for Loren and Lauren
I have definitely thought about Blaise/Blaze! I couldn’t name a child Blaise because it would be indistinguishable from Blaze (when spoken), and Blaze is really not our style!
Beryl and Meryl.
Marlo and Marla
Marlo and Margo
Marlo and Marlow(e)
Elise and Elsie
Farah and Sarah. My good friend was a Farah but people constantly misheard her and called her Sarah. Popularity wise Sarah would make sense with her age but she is just so not a Sarah!
I love Elinor (the British pronunciation, eh-lin-uh) and have a knee-jerk dislike of Elena and all other Ellen-y names. It makes no sense… ˆˆ’
The name Joanna feels spunky and fresh, while the names Joan and Joann feel like Mom Names, and I don’t know why because it seems like they were all probably popular around the same time, right?
Jennifer seems like it’s reaching timeless status – I can actually see finding a child with this name surprisingly fresh already, even though it has a lot of Mom Name associations for me. Genevieve, on the other hand, feels like a more popular name for today. But also, it might already be wearing out its welcome?
I also think it’s interesting to look at nicknames we might like associated with a particular name but not another.
I love the name Margaret, with the nicknames Margo or Meg, but would not name a child of today Megan, for example, or even Margo as a stand-alone name.
And why does Nicholas seem like a solid, timeless name, while Nicole has that middle-aged feel, again? And why does a boy nicknamed “Nicky” seem fun, and a girl “Nikki” dated?
Janet and Janis
Emilia and Amelia
Everly and Eva
Olive and Olivia
My name is Sela. It gets a very different reaction than Sheila, and that makes sense to me—they have wildly different feels in my brain, in that Sheila has a very specific image of a certain demographic. I think it’s because the “sh” sound is a bit harsher than that soft s. Sela and Celia or even Cecilia feel much less different than each other, at least to me.
Fun!
Susannah and Savannah
Neveah and Neve and Niamh
Haley and Hadley
Jon and John
Ted and Todd
Jane and Jean
John … Johan. To me it is akin to Beverly / Everly – one so traditional and the other exotic. Yes they are the same name but the vibe is so different. And all of this shifts again as you move cultures… Perhaps somewhere John is cutting edge because it is an Anglo import?
Oh and …
Jan (male) and Jan (female). Very different perception just by shifting the gender.
Good thread!
Tom and Tim… to me they re completely different names. Tom and Tim are wearing different CLOTHES even
My husband and I have been doing the coffee shop test here and there for testing names. Provides the double benefit of saying it out loud in real life, and hearing it called out to us by someone else.
At two different cafes I gave the name Etta. One café spelled it Eda and the other Edda. First shop called it out with the long Ee sound. EEda. Second shop pronounced it like Etta.
Etta and Eda/Edda are so different to me! The auditory and visual name experience was pretty cool honestly.
I am realizing now that I pronounce Etta with sort of a clunky t/d thuddy sound, much like “Edda” actually. Wondering if Etta, with an audible, intentional T sound is how its supposed to be pronounced.
Interesting! We have both Etta and Eda as family names, and I’ve toyed with the idea of using Etta to sort of honor both. They do feel similar to me.
This is a slightly different phenomenon, but I’ve also realized that Etta is one of those names that feels very different to me on paper vs out loud – I also say it with a D-ish sound, which makes it sound a little like “feminine Eddie.” I wish I could say it with more of a T sound but it sounds super forced.
On that note, Ettie and Eddie feel wildly different to me, but I say them exactly the same.
Woah, yes! Ettie and Eddie. So interesting. Visually apparent, but verbally similar.
I also found myself having to force the T sound when attempting to enunciate Etta with a sharper T, and it didn’t sound natural.
Wow am finding myself wonderfully distracted and charmed by Ettie!
Yvette is high, high up on the list and I defaulted to Etta as a shortened version, but Ettie, oh wow. Funny how I could miss that option to easily.
Experiment time: I wrote down Eda for two coworkers. One said ‘EE’da because it reminded her of Edie–>Edith. The other said Etta because of Ed, Edward, etc.
This is all so fascinating.
Etta is one of those names that uses what speech-language pathologists call the “flap t”. Our tongue touches the part of the palate that would form the /t/ sound, but we quickly move onto the vowel. Words like butter, letter, water, etc. have this flap t as well.
When my daughter, Nora, was born, I introduced her to my dad who mistakenly thought I said Norma. I laughed and could not believe that those two names were only one letter apart.
I’m intrigued by some of the pairings people have mentioned that DON’T feel that different to me. Beatrice and Beatrix, Louise and Louisa, Sylvie and Sylvia… All of those are names I can’t quite choose between because I like both for almost the same reasons.
Relatedly, I find basically no meaningful difference between the two pronunciations of Louisa (louiza with a z sound vs luisa with an s sound)… we considered the name for our most recent baby if he’d been a girl. I see that there’s a difference but they don’t seem all that distinct to me and I’d be fine with someone pronouncing it either way! But the pronunciation difference really tripped my husband up and it took him weeks to reconcile it enough to consider the name seriously.
Roland and Ronald. One is all chivalry and knights and the other is all Reagan for me.
Elsa and Eliza
Cain and Kane
Kiara and Chiara
Michaela and McKayla
Luna and Oona
Sienna and Sierra
And how is Ambrose male, while Primrose is female?
I love the name Lidian, but not so much Lydia.
I have an Ellery who is constantly confused for Hillary, Valerie, Everly, or Elodie.
My daughter has a fellow 3 year old in her preschool class named Valkyrie Luna (per the class list) and when we were talking about some of her friends she said her name as Valerie. Talk about sounds similar but different vibes!
Jason and Mason
Rose and Rosa
Anne and Ann and Anna and Ana
John and Jon
(Yes I am still thinking about this post!)
Maren and Karen