What's In a Name?

[daycarediva]

I have 11 kids enrolled, but only 8 each day. I just had a phone interview with what sounds like a promising client that could replace a family moving in September. My only issue is, I already have TWO boys here with the same exact name. One is older/bigger so we call one 'big ____' and the other 'little _____'. but 3?!? It is already soooo confusing, there is no possible nickname for the name at all and both kids are old enough to know that they are 1 of 2 and dislike it immensely. All three kids would be FT, too.

I also have two sets of dcm's with the same name and TWO dcd's have the same name.

It's the first time I have ever had a duplicate since first starting (dcm and dck had same name) I'm SO CONFUSED!!!

[Josiegirl]

Haha that's kind of funny actually.I had 2 Andrews once, called one Andrew, the other Drew. But since there are no nicknames available, maybe you could ask the dcps if he has a nickname. Some kids have nicknames completely unrelated to their original names. Or maybe you could add the first initial of their last names? Like Big Nick, Little Nick, and Nick D.

[Brooksie]

I have 11 kids enrolled, but only 8 each day. I just had a phone interview with what sounds like a promising client that could replace a family moving in September. My only issue is, I already have TWO boys here with the same exact name. One is older/bigger so we call one 'big ____' and the other 'little _____'. but 3?!? It is already soooo confusing, there is no possible nickname for the name at all and both kids are old enough to know that they are 1 of 2 and dislike it immensely. All three kids would be FT, too.

I also have two sets of dcm's with the same name and TWO dcd's have the same name.

It's the first time I have ever had a duplicate since first starting (dcm and dck had same name) I'm SO CONFUSED!!!

How about "Median _______" ::::

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

:: What are the odds?!

[Starburst]

Haha that's kind of funny actually.I had 2 Andrews once, called one Andrew, the other Drew. But since there are no nicknames available, maybe you could ask the dcps if he has a nickname. Some kids have nicknames completely unrelated to their original names. Or maybe you could add the first initial of their last names? Like Big Nick, Little Nick, and Nick D.

When I was in school the teachers would call people with the same names by their First name and initial of the last name, sometimes even by their full last names if they had similar initials. The only problem was in middle school we had two boys with the same first and last name, but not related. Luckily they had different middle name initials so one was Michael A. V_____ and the other was Michael B. V_____.

You can also do nicknames based on their personality, such as Skippy Sally and Silly Sally. You can also call them by just their middle name or their first and middle name, (i.e. Mary Alice or Robert Jacob). Depending on their last name you can also just call them by their last name; My last name is a common boys name and I had teachers accidently address me by my last name. You can also do a Mr/Ms. last name (Like Mr. Feeney from 'Boy Meets World' did with his students).

Personally I wouldn't do the Big___ and Little ___ thing because it sounds like its it's going to offend someone (the kids or the parents) in some way, but that's just me.

[mamac]

:: What are the odds?!

Lol. Pretty easy if his name is Aiden (or similar sounding name like Jayden, Caden, etc), Jacob, or Liam.

I go to the park with my ds and yell his name and 10 kids turn around and look at me like "who the heck are you??:confused:" ::

[mamac]

When I was in school the teachers would call people with the same names by their First name and initial of the last name, sometimes even by their full last names if they had similar initials. The only problem was in middle school we had two boys with the same first and last name, but not related. Luckily they had different middle name initials so one was Michael A. V_____ and the other was Michael B. V_____.

You can also do nicknames based on their personality, such as Skippy Sally and Silly Sally. You can also call them by just their middle name or their first and middle name, (i.e. Mary Alice or Robert Jacob). Depending on their last name you can also just call them by their last name; My last name is a common boys name and I had teachers accidently address me by my last name. You can also do a Mr/Ms. last name (Like Mr. Feeney from 'Boy Meets World' did with his students).

Personally I wouldn't do the Big___ and Little ___ thing because it sounds like its it's going to offend someone (the kids or the parents) in some way, but that's just me.

Really? I think that's going a little too PC. I would think that the "Big" and "Little" differentiates which child is older than the other. It has nothing to do with actual size. I'd be more concerned about offending them by picking a name based on your perception of the child's personality. There is much more room for error there than going with the age old Big and Little.

JMO. Not trying to offend.

[mamac]

Oh and to answer the original post:

How would any of them feel about being called by just their middle names?

How about having the 3 kids pick their own silly nicknames?

My ds was the "Big" kid in his dc. She was going to go with the middle name but both boys had the same names right up to the first initial of their last name. She really didn't have a choice.

[Starburst]

Really? I think that's going a little too PC. I would think that the "Big" and "Little" differentiates which child is older than the other. It has nothing to do with actual size. I'd be more concerned about offending them by picking a name based on your perception of the child's personality. There is much more room for error there than going with the age old Big and Little.

JMO. Not trying to offend.

I read an article a while ago called "The Worst Things You Can Say to a Woman Who Just Had a Baby"(http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/wor...115600786.html). One of the things listed by a mom who said one of her pet peeves was when people said her child was little or small. She saw that as an insult because her child was a preemie, so she sees people calling him small as a reflection on him being unhealthy. Also parents of the child who is described as "big" my think you are poking fun at his weight or pointing him out as being tall for his age. I knew one girl who hated being called big or tall (she was 9 and taller than me), she said being tall made her feel fat because "tall" means "big" and so does "fat". Also there was one thing on here about the providers being annoyed by the kids always saying "I'm big" or "my mom says I am big" and even having arguments about it. We also do live in a society where "bigger is better" (especially for kids), so after a while the 'little' kid might feel inferior because he is not 'big'.

Plus, as someone who was overweight all my life- yes the term does offend me because people would say that I was big and I knew they meant 'fat' because I wasn't tall, in high school one kid used to sing "twinkle, twinkle, big fat Star" during P.E. So that's why I said personally I wouldn't use that term. I didn't say she wasn't allowed to use it.

Also the terms 'big' and 'little' in a literal sense are not really related to age but size; after all, we don't say that the bigger car is older than the little car (it's also misinforming because people who are older are not always taller than younger people). If your going by age why not Senior and Junior? Or even by numbers of who was there first (Billy 1 [or Billy the 1st], Billy 2 [or Billy the 2nd])? Also what would happen if a new kid with the same name is a taller then the old "Big Bob" but a few months younger?

For the personality thing, only if it's done in a positive way. It's not like you would call one kid "Smart Steve" and the other "Dumb Steve".

[mama0609]

My son had another boy on his baseball team with the same name and they called my son "little c". He did not like that. He didn't want people to call him little even though he was younger than the other boy. He is on the shorter end of average but wants to be taller so bad! I would steer clear of that route.

As far as taking on a 3rd kid with the same name I would just use the first name and last initial, or some variation of that.

[blandino]

Actually, as of this month we have two Sarahs, two Jasons, and two Vanessas in our little group of parents & children. I anticipate confusion !

[countrymom]

you can also call them by their inital.

[Kaddidle Care]

When I was in school the teachers would call people with the same names by their First name and initial of the last name.

This is what we did when we had children with the same name.

[Play Care]

My son had another boy on his baseball team with the same name and they called my son "little c". He did not like that. He didn't want people to call him little even though he was younger than the other boy. He is on the shorter end of average but wants to be taller so bad! I would steer clear of that route.

As far as taking on a 3rd kid with the same name I would just use the first name and last initial, or some variation of that.

My nephew had another kid in his high school class with the same name. Because the other kid was much bigger they called my nephew "Little Steve" and the other kid was "Big Steve" No high school boy wants to be thought of as "little" and he hated it.

On a side note my husband and his father have the same first name. By the time my DH was in 6th grade he was bigger/taller then his Dad. Now my husband is 6'1, and his father is at most 5'7. The "big" and "little" at this point is ridiculous. ::

I like first name and last initial or a nick name that the child chooses/likes and suites them.

[Blackcat31]

When I was in school the teachers would call people with the same names by their First name and initial of the last name, sometimes even by their full last names if they had similar initials. The only problem was in middle school we had two boys with the same first and last name, but not related. Luckily they had different middle name initials so one was Michael A. V_____ and the other was Michael B. V_____.

You can also do nicknames based on their personality, such as Skippy Sally and Silly Sally. You can also call them by just their middle name or their first and middle name, (i.e. Mary Alice or Robert Jacob). Depending on their last name you can also just call them by their last name; My last name is a common boys name and I had teachers accidently address me by my last name. You can also do a Mr/Ms. last name (Like Mr. Feeney from 'Boy Meets World' did with his students).

Personally I wouldn't do the Big___ and Little ___ thing because it sounds like its it's going to offend someone (the kids or the parents) in some way, but that's just me.

I agree with this.

I had two boys with the same name a few years ago and the older one was really large and IMO, severely overweight for his age. One of my other DCK's started referring to the two boys a "big S" and "little S" .

I think it really had a negative affect on the older one as he didn't view the moniker as something to differentiate the two from each other but more as a name we were calling him to tease or offend him. His mom wasn't too thrilled to find out either.

At the same time, I also had two moms with the same name and they both had sons that had the same name....

Currently, I have 4 moms (yes, 4 of them) as well as myself with some variation of the same name..... it is completely confusing sometimes...

As far as your issue Daycarediva, what I would do is just say their names and and then if one of them doesn't know you are talking to them, you can just say Billy who is wearing the red shirt. I'd embed some sort of "game" into it.