Klay Rooney joins his older brother Kai. So are they the latest example of a celebrity obsession for giving children same-letter forenames?Klay Rooney is only a few hours old and already there have been mutterings (by which I mean a bit ...
Klay Rooney joins his older brother Kai. So are they the latest example of a celebrity obsession for giving children same-letter forenames?Klay Rooney is only a few hours old and already there have been mutterings (by which I mean a bit on Twitter and a Mumsnet thread) about the choice of his name. Coleen and Wayne Rooney have named their second son presumably to match their first – three-year-old Kai – although we would really have to wait for a third child before it is confirmed that it is definitely A Thing. But it's that K: the unnecessary spelling, and a thundering echo of the Kardashians with their same-letter names (Kim, Kourtney, Khloe, Kendall and Kylie. And poor lonely Rob).Of course, parents should be able to choose to call their child what they like and it's none of our business. Unless they call their child Adolf or Voldemort, obviously, when somebody should step in (and I really would caution against Emine too). But going for a matching set is something of a statement."I think 'tradition' is too grand a term for it," says Pamela Satran, who has written numerous books on baby names and runs the site nameberry.com. "It's a practice that started in the US, at least, in the 1950s when people moved away from being very tradition-bound – with family, religious or cultural names – and started picking names they liked. So that left a lot of room to make up their own, much sillier traditions. One thing people did, just like dressing their children the same, was give them matching names. We certainly love it over here [in the US]."The Arkansas-based Duggar family – slogan: "19 kids and counting" – who rose to fame on reality TV, have given all their children names beginning with J, including twins Jedidiah and Jeremiah. But do they not get confused between Joseph, Josiah and Josie? Or Joy-Anna and Johannah? What happens when a letter arrives addressed to "J Duggar"?I worry I am susceptible to this. While I don't have children, I have had quite a few pets and for a long period in my childhood, their names all began with a B (Bruce, Beatrice, Bubbles, Boswell and Bushby). But Satran believes, despite – or perhaps because of – the popularity of the Kardashians, matchy names is a trend that is dying out. "I think parents are more conscious now of giving each child an individual name, making them seem distinct."One of the problems of giving your children same-letter names, even unintentionally, is that parents may become trapped into giving a subsequent child a matching name in case "they might not feel they are part of the family in the same way". But, she adds, "I'm thinking of a mom who was having a third daughter and her first two had names that started with A – she really liked the feeling of family cohesiveness that this represented."Perhaps the Rooneys have gone further and given their children names that rhyme – are Kai and Klay pronounced the same way/wai? My friend's father is called John and his brothers are called Don and Ron. Which is surely even braver than simply giving your children the same initials.Parents and parentingFamilyWayne RooneyKim KardashianCelebrityEmine Sanerguardian.co.uk © 2013 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
