Twins and Multiple births

The names can match in several ways. They may simply begin with the same letter or sound (Peter + Penny) or alliterate in some other way, perhaps with a similar ending (Carla + Marla). Two forms of what is essentially the same name may be used such as Natasha and Natalie, the Russian diminutive and French forms of Natalia. Other connecting factors might be characters in literature or film - Sebastian and Viola, from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, or Charlene and Kylie, named after a character in the Australian soap opera 'Neighbours' and the actress who portrayed her. The names might have a similar meaning but be from different languages such as Deborah and Melissa, from the Hebrew and Greek for 'bee'. Sometimes the connection is between the bearers of the names rather than in the names themselves. Charles and George were named after two English kings and Glen and Chris were named after the footballers Hoddle and Waddell.

For the larger multiple births, such as quads, quins or more, few people seem to choose matching names, probably because of the difficulty of finding four or five similar names that they like. However, I have heard of a family of identical quadruplet girls who have the same four first names arranged in a different order.

Twins

Male

Female

One Male, One Female

Triplets

Male

Female

Two Male, One Female

Two Female, One Male

Quadruplets

Male

Kayne, Layne, Shayne, Wayne

Michael, Nicholas, Joseph, Christopher

Female

Nicole, Alicia, Kelsa, Lauren

Joan, Joyce, Jeraldine, Jeanette

Three Female, One Male

Christa Chelsa Charla Casey

Three Male, One Female

Max, Marc, Matthew, Alexandra

Quintuplets

Emilie, Marie, Cecile, Annette, Yvonne (Dionne)

This collection of names was compiled by Kate Monk and is ©1997, Kate Monk.

Copies may be made for personal use only.