I am sure you already have a list of names you're thinking about, and, if you're having twins, you're gonna need two winning names.
But slow down a minute. Let me talk to you about naming twins.
Your twins are two complete people: You might be saying "no kidding, Meredith." but really. You're twins are two two individual people who happened to be born on the same day. Even if they are identical, they are still two separate people with separate experiences and lives.
Why does this matter? Sometimes it feels like parents act like twins are "Two half of a whole". It's cute to name them "Larry and Harry" or "Mia and Maya". But please don't.
Why not? a few reasons.
1). The closer the names are to each other, the harder it is for people to remember which name goes with which twin. Especially if you have twins that are the same gender, give them unique names. Nothing is worse than being called your twin sisters name at school every day by everyone. Or even worse, they don't even bother to figure out which twin you are and instead call you collectively "Sara/Tara". It doesn't matter that Sara likes horses and Tara likes art, they will always be grouped together.
2) One day, your kids will grow up. Marshall will have a life of his own, apart from Marsha. They will be bonded together because they grew up together, but nobody cares about their cute twin names when they are 50 and living in different states.
3) I have two kids, and I already call them by the other child's name-- and their names are not even very similar. Adding similar names will make this even more likely. AND even if you use the right name referring to the correct child, your spouse may not have been listening closely, and only heard "Fra..." instead of Frank or Frances, and suddenly the wrong kid is being fed. (Honestly, my husband might do this no matter what I name the twins, but still.)
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If you still want to acknowledge their twin-ness within their names, here are some Meredith approved suggestions:
1) Use the middle name to do this. Helen Molly and Rebecca Polly still have a cute twin names, without it being their entire identity.
2) Consider a middle initial: My name is Meredith Joy and my twin brother is Bryan John. Our middle initials are both J, giving us a little similarity, while still letting us be ourselves.
3) Swap Initials: Peter Michael and Mark Phillip for instance. This gives them unique first names, and middle names, and you might not even know they are similar unless you hear them both together. It's sneaky cute, and I like that a lot.
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