With our second baby set to arrive later this fall, assuming everything goes as planned, my husband and I are deep into the name brainstorming process.
While I’m not going to divulge what name we’re leaning toward, I have strongly considered opting for a name that begins with the same first letter as our daughter’s name.
Why am I considering following in the footsteps of the Kardashians and the Duggars? Today’s hint is how giving siblings names that start with the same first letter can actually save you money.
Take my family’s experience, as an example. My name is Jennifer, and my sister’s name is Julie. When we were younger, my mother would personalize gear like pencils and stationary with the name “J Saranow” (Saranow is my maiden name), and she would buy clothes monogrammed with our shared first initial (“J”).
Because this gear worked for any “J Saranow,” both my sister and I could use such items, and my parents were saved the cost of having to pay two personalization fees. In other words, if you give your children the same first initial, they can easily share and hand down any sort of personalized gear, saving you money in the process.
Plus, you can also save money on other items like clothing labels, say for school or camp, (just make sure you can distinguish whose clothes are whose somehow, say by size). My mom was also able to save on airline ticket fees using her “J Saranow” strategy: When my sister and I were both in college, my mother twice booked round-trip airplane tickets under the name “J Saranow” when she knew I could use one way and my sister could use the other, and the round-trip tickets were cheaper than the one-way fares. However, it’s unlikely this trick would work in a post-9/11 world.
To be sure, opting for non-personalized gear is always the cheapest option; however, sometimes those monogrammed backpacks and tote bags are just too cute to resist. And remember that if your kids are different genders, you’ll want to make sure you put my mom’s personalization tricks to work on gender-neutral colored gear.
What do you think of giving siblings the same first initial? What are your baby naming tips?
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So funny! Our name pick if we have another boy is Wyatt…two W names! I would love a girl pick with a W too…WWW ha!
My husband and I have a blended family ~ and by pure chance each one of our children’s initials were “M.E.” Needless to say, when we had our son there was no question about his initials. So we have ME ME ME!